Finding aid databases

Letter to Diarmuid O'Hegarty, from President MacCosgair [Cosgrave], 15 May 1928, authorising the payment of twenty pounds, out of the DáilSpecial Fund, to Mrs Brosnan, Tralee, County Kerry.

s 7630

letter

Copy letter to Fionan Lynch, Minister for Lands and Fisheries, unsigned, 15 May 1928, regarding a request for financial assistance which he received from Mrs Brosnan, Tralee. The letter states that the President has authorised a grant of £20 to Mrs Brosnan from the DáilSpecial Fund, to cover expenses 'in connection with certain debts and funeral expenses of the late Jack Cronin, Ballymacelligott, County Kerry'.

s 7630

letter

Receipt acknowledging 'to have received the sum of £20, being an ex gratia payment made to me from the DáilSpecial Fund', signed by Mary Brosnan, Springhill, Tralee, County Kerry, 18 May 1928.

s 7630

Receipt

Fourth Report of the Department of Local Government and Public Health, 1928 to 1929, presented to the Executive Council, November 1930. This report outlines developments and gives statistics in relation to local finance and general administration; public health; housing and public assistance.

A section on page 46 covers the area of maternity and child welfare, for example, 'A post-graduate course for midwives held in Dublin in August was fairly well attended. It is hoped to organise similar courses in Dublin, Cork, and Galway each year'. The mortality rate in Kerry is also discussed, 'Attention was called to the high mortality rate connected with child birth in County Kerry, the Board of Health being advised to urge the appointment of a County Medical Officer of Health who would also act as Medical Officer for purposes of Midwives' control'.

Pages 76 and 77 give the personnel and activities of the General Nursing Council and the Central Midwives Board, for example, 'The persons elected to the General Nursing Council by Registered Nurses were: Miss Angela Halbert, Miss M O'Flynn, Miss M Walsh, Miss Ellen Healy, Miss M Harold, Miss AMP Smithson'.

Page 112 refers to the report received from Miss Fitzgerald-Kenney and Miss Litster, Inspectors of Boarded-Out Children, 'Children should not be kept in County Homes who can be boarded out, and every effort should be made to find trustworthy foster parents and suitable homes'. Their report is given in full in Appendix XXXI.

The numbers of unmarried mothers and their children maintained by poor law authorities is given on pages 112 to 114, 'The mothers of first born illegitimate children numbered 614 and their children 528, the mothers of two or more illegitimate children numbered 356 and their children 405'. The role played by special institutions for unmarried mothers and their children is outlined, for example 'This home was opened in 1922 and is intended primarily for young mothers who have fallen for the first time and who are likely to be influenced towards a useful and respectable life'.

s 8345

report

Fourth Report of the Department of Local Government and Public Health, 1928 to 1929, presented to the Executive Council, November 1930. This report outlines developments and gives statistics in relation to local finance and general administration; public health; housing and public assistance.

A section on page 46 covers the area of maternity and child welfare, for example, 'A post-graduate course for midwives held in Dublin in August was fairly well attended. It is hoped to organise similar courses in Dublin, Cork, and Galway each year'. The mortality rate in Kerry is also discussed, 'Attention was called to the high mortality rate connected with child birth in County Kerry, the Board of Health being advised to urge the appointment of a County Medical Officer of Health who would also act as Medical Officer for purposes of Midwives' control'.

Pages 76 and 77 give the personnel and activities of the General Nursing Council and the Central Midwives Board, for example, 'The persons elected to the General Nursing Council by Registered Nurses were: Miss Angela Halbert, Miss M O'Flynn, Miss M Walsh, Miss Ellen Healy, Miss M Harold, Miss AMP Smithson'.

Page 112 refers to the report received from Miss Fitzgerald-Kenney and Miss Litster, Inspectors of Boarded-Out Children, 'Children should not be kept in County Homes who can be boarded out, and every effort should be made to find trustworthy foster parents and suitable homes'. Their report is given in full in Appendix XXXI.

The numbers of unmarried mothers and their children maintained by poor law authorities is given on pages 112 to 114, 'The mothers of first born illegitimate children numbered 614 and their children 528, the mothers of two or more illegitimate children numbered 356 and their children 405'. The role played by special institutions for unmarried mothers and their children is outlined, for example 'This home was opened in 1922 and is intended primarily for young mothers who have fallen for the first time and who are likely to be influenced towards a useful and respectable life'.
Report of the Department of Local Government and Public Health, 1929 to 1930, presented to the Executive Council, October 1931. The report outlines developments and gives statistics in relation to local finance and general administration; housing; public assistance and public health.

Page 31 lists the County Medical Officers of Health, for example, 'In County Cork, Dr Brigid Lyons Thornton resigned her position as Assistant County Medical Officer of Health on being selected as Assistant School Medical Officer for Dublin County Borough'.

Pages 32 to 36 cover the area of maternity and child welfare. The following trend was referred to, 'It was noticeable in previous years that maternal mortality, whether from puerperal septic diseases or from accidents of pregnancy and childbirth, had a distinctly worse record in rural than in urban districts, a circumstance that was partly explained by the greater difficulties in promptly providing skilled aid in cases of urgency'. This section states that free midwifery and medical attendance in childbirth is provided for women of the poorer classes under the Medical Charities system. The training of midwives is covered at length, for example, 'the midwives attended lectures and clinics and were taken to various places of interest in Dublin, The Baby Club at Lourdes House, Upper Buckingham Street, the model farm at Glasnevin, St Ultan's Hospital, and St Mary's Open Air Hospital, Cappagh'.

Statistics are given on page 92, in relation to the administration of special homes for unmarried mothers. These institutions include the Sacred Heart Home, Bessborough, County Cork; the Children's Home, Tuam, County Galway and a home at Pelletstown, County Dublin.

Miss Litster, Inspector of Boarded-Out Children, recommends that a register of all foster homes should be built up in order to 'remove the possibility of infants being placed at nurse in unsuitable foster-homes'.

s 8345

report

Hand-written letter from Maire Ni Dhomhnail, Annascaul, County Kerry, to the Department of the Taoiseach, 27 January 1938, recommending Sean Begley for nomination as a member of the Senate. She outlines his suitability for the position. 'I would strongly recommend Sean Begley, the present Secretary of our Fianna Fail Cumann. I place him at the head of Kerry patriots'.

s 9264A

letter

Copy letter from P O'Cinneide to Maire Ni Dhomhnail, Annascaul, County Kerry, 28 January 1938, acknowledging receipt of her recent letter in regard to the nomination of Mr Sean Begley as a member of Seanad Éireann.

s 9264A

letter

Letter to President de Valera from Dorothy Macardle, Kerry House, 28 Basil Street, London, 21 May 1937, in relation to the status of women under the new Constitution. Miss Macardle states that she is in absolute agreement with Miss Louie Bennett's published letter to him on the matter ['Irish Press', 12 May 1937]. Macardle feels that the language of certain clauses suggests that the State may interfere to a great extent in determining what opportunities shall be available to women. She suggests that the following clause should be inserted in Article 45, 'The State shall endeavour to secure that neither in opportunities for employment nor in conditions of employment shall women suffer unfair discrimination on the sole ground of sex'.

s 9880

letter

Note,1938, on the migration of families from Donegal, Mayo, Kerry and Cork, to Gibstown, County Meath. The note states that fifty colonists and their families were allotted over one thousand acres. The names of the Gibstown colonists are given, for example, 'from County Mayo - Catherine Diamond'.

s 10764

note

Note on the Gaeltacht colony in Clonghill, County Meath, 1939. 'In the year 1939, a supplementary colony to Gibstown was established on adjoining lands at Clonghill where 9 further migrant families from Counties Donegal and Kerry were established on an area of 261 acres, comprising 52 persons in all at the time of migration'. The note states that one migrant went back to Donegal after one year and that his holding was re-allotted to Mrs Clinton, a new migrant from Donegal. The names of the Clonghill colonists are given, for example, 'Hannah Clinton (widow), Mrs Marian Martin and Mrs Margaret Lee'.

s 10764

note