DUNLAVIN
DUNL AVIN
– Chris Lawlor
The War of Independence in and around Dunlavin: July 1920 to July 1921 The local elections of June 1920 were the first to use the proportional representation system of voting, and in Wicklow they returned an overwhelmingly republican chamber of Sinn Féin and Labour councillors. The first meeting of the council was held on 18 June, and the newly elected Councillor Christopher M. Byrne (1880–1958), who was on the run from the authorities, was briefly present. Robert Barton TD was unanimously elected chairman of the council. Barton had escaped from Mountjoy Jail on the night of 16-17 March 1919, but was recaptured in January 1920 and tried by court martial. At the time of this meeting, he was incarcerated in Portland prison in Dorset. Joseph Campbell was elected as vice-chairman and became the acting chairman in Barton’s absence.
Baltinglass pledges allegiance to Dáil Éireann The monthly meeting of Baltinglass Number One District Council was held in Dunlavin on Tuesday, 13 July 1920. This was the first time a council meeting was held in Dunlavin, and ‘a Sinn Féin flag was unfurled in the courthouse during the proceedings’.1 Chairman John J. Cunningham presided over the attendance of James Byrne, J. Murphy, John J. Carroll, Denis Fay, John Kelly, A. J. Metcalfe, J. Hayden, J. R. Dagg (clerk) and P. J. Foley (engineer). Among the items of local governance discussed at the meeting were cottage rents, the building scheme for labourers’ cottages, estimates for the repairs of existing cottages, maintenance of the pumps in Dunlavin, payment of expenses pertaining to the Allotment Order, inspection and repair of the Hollywood sewer and work on the roads in the Glen of Imaal. However, some other items discussed had a decidedly more political flavour. At the time, both the British parliament and the fledgling Dáil claimed to be the rightful government of Ireland. There was no ambivalence in the council on the matter. The following resolution, proposed by John J. Cunningham and seconded by James Byrne, was passed
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