Jimmy Gralton

Atoms for Peace

Anybody watch "Jimmy's Hall" on TG4 during the week? it was my first time learning of the story of Jimmy Gralton who, despite being the only Irishman deported since independence, seems to have been forgotten by history.

He was deported, without trial or indeed any evidence of any crime, as a subversive by the first de Valera FF government in 1933.

Nineteen thirty-two was the year of the Eucharistic Congress in Ireland. Religious fervour and a strong anti-communism emanated from both church and State. A Lenten pastoral urged violence against anyone who preached communism. Gralton’s building, named Pearse-Connolly Hall, burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1932. Suspicion fell on the local IRA, incited by clergy.
The rhetoric against Gralton increased in intensity in 1933. He was denounced repeatedly by local priests and politicians. One of his most vocal critics was Andrew Mooney, then an Independent member of Leitrim County Council, who during a debate about Gralton was reported to have said, “I suggest we should get Hitler over here for a few days.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/jimmy-gralton-a-deported-irishman-s-return-1.1806775

myshirt

There would have to be a Leitrim man involved.

Slydice

Watched it a good while back. Decent film and done well.

At first I was like.. oh he was deported, then I checked his wiki page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gralton

and then I was like.. Wow, he was literally

the only Irishman ever deported from Ireland