Confidential report from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)

As time goes on the Irish people in the London area are becoming more and more closely organised. Almost every week we hear of the formation of some new Irish organisation or the inception of some new Irish activity. Furthermore, as the Taoiseach and the Minister remarked when they were here on St. Patrick’s Day, the morale and enthusiasm prevalent among the existing Irish organisations here is at a very high pitch.

2. This vitality and enthusiasm was very much in evidence at the various Irish functions held in London over the Easter weekend. It would be impossible in this minute to list all the functions of this kind which were held, but they include the following:
   1. An Easter Week commemoration Mass, arranged by the Anti-Partition League, at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, on Sunday, the 18th.bracketsroman
   2. An open air Anti-Partition meeting held in Trafalgar Square the same afternoon at which Messrs. Michael O’Neill, MP, Declan Costello, TD and Con Lehane¹ were the principal speakers.
   3. The first annual dinner of the Kerrymen’s Association of London held the same evening in the Royal Hotel, Russell Square, which over 300 people attended.
   4. An Easter Week commemoration céilí on the same evening in the St. Pancras Town Hall organised by the Gaelic League and the GAA.
   5. The opening of a new Irish commercial dance hall in London – the New Emerald Dance Club in Hammersmith Road, owned by Mrs. J. Conway, wife of the President of the London County Board of the GAA.
   6. An Easter Week Symposium, composed and scripted by Mr. Pat Mulloy² of this Embassy, held at the Irish Club, Eaton Square on Easter Sunday evening.
   7. A football match between Kerry and Armagh at Mitcham Stadium on Monday afternoon.
3. I attended all these functions except the Anti-Partition meeting in Trafalgar Square and the Easter Week Symposium at the Irish Club. Both of these functions were, I am informed, highly successful. The Trafalgar Square meeting drew a large crowd and I understand that, in spite of rain, the informal collection made realised £75. There was a very full attendance at the Easter Week Symposium at the Irish Club which – I understand from Dr. Ned Carey,³ who was present – was very well done indeed.
4. The first annual dinner of the Kerryman’s Association was highly successful. The success of the two county associations which have already been formed – those of Tipperary and Kerry – will probably encourage people from other counties to follow their example before long.
5. The céilí organised by the GAA and the Gaelic League in the St. Pancras Town Hall was poorly attended and contrasted unfavourably in this respect with the crowd of eight or nine hundred which packed the new Emerald Dance Club for its official opening. The lack of interest in the language and the national culture of the young people coming over from Ireland, as compared with their fondness for modern dancing, is a subject of widespread comment among the older Irish residents here.
6. Monsignor Slattery, Archdeacon of Aghadoe, who represented the Bishop of Kerry at the match on Monday lunched with us before the match and came down to Mitcham with me. The match was attended by over 15,000 people and it is reckoned that the funds of the London County Board benefited in consequence by something over £800. In keeping with the decision of which Cardinal Griffin informed the Taoiseach when he was here on St. Patrick’s Day, a collection was made during the match on behalf of the London Priests Committee which is trying to establish hostels and a social centre for young Irish immigrants in the London area. This collection, I am informed, realised only £42. In other words whereas the Anti-Partition League were able to collect £75 from a floating crowd of 3,000 in Trafalgar Square, the London Priests Committee succeeded in collecting only £42 from a crowd of 15,000, at Mitcham.
7. All the Irish functions held throughout the weekend were excellently attended and a good spirit of national enthusiasm marked all of them. Irish organisation in London seems to be on the crest of a wave at the moment and there is a growing tendency on the part of the older Irish residents here (including men like Jim Conway, President of the London County Board) to ‘cash in’ on it commercially by opening new dance halls and other similar places of recreation and entertainment. Someone told me on Monday that the London County Board had decided to increase their bid for Mitcham Stadium to £40,000 and an announcement on the loud speaker at the match said that in the meantime games would in future be played at Mitcham Stadium every Sunday afternoon.