When the ‘Terms of the Agreement’ were signed by British and Irish delegates on 6th December 1921 which, once ratified by Westminster and Dublin Parliaments and voted on in what has been termed a ‘Treaty Election’ in 1922, the Terms of Agreement became a Treaty between Ireland and Britain.
To most who fought in the Irish Civil War, pro and anti-treaty factions of the once unified IRA the question was simple. If the Treaty was supported it would mean partition of the country and/or an oath of allegiance to the British Monarch, apparently minor details!
To anti-treaty supporters these conditions were unacceptable while to those who supported the Treaty, they were a ‘stepping stone towards full freedom’. The pro-treaty side won both on the battlefield and in the political chambers and the ‘Terms’ were passed by 64 in favour with 57 opposing. There was no formal public referendum but the public showed support by voting for pro-treaty representatives both at local and national elections. The question was, and perhaps still is, were the public furnished with all the facts about the treaty before voting for representatives supportive of said treaty? Considered by many as a betrayal of the republic there were many other hidden agendas contained within the Terms of the Agreement – immediate forerunner of the Treaty. One issue which remained and, apparently still does, is that of landlordism and its absentee variant.
Throughout the nineteenth century rural Ireland launched many campaigns, some armed and violent, against landlordism and those landlords absent living in Britain and England in particular. Absentee Landlords made huge amounts of money out of lands they owned in Ireland charging high rents from tenants to live on these estates. The struggle to end the system which facilitated ‘Absentee Landlords’ resulted in various Land Acts between 1870 and 1923 which supposedly broke the landlord system. However it appears the Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish, and his son William Cavendish, the Earl of Burlington, owners of Lismore Estates in the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Waterford are practicing absentee landlordism and making a fortune in 2026. It is beyond belief these British parasitical aristocrats can do this in a country who supposedly achieved independence in 1922. It is evident the anti-treaty side were, in principle, correct in the Irish Civil War and the bullshit fed to the population by the fledgeling government side in order to gain their acceptance of said treaty did not contain the whole truth!
The Duke of Devonshire and his son live cosy lives in England doing next to fuck all in productive work. They cream off huge profits from their interests, estates, in Ireland and have decided within their wisdom to increase the rents of sheep farmers who lease 8,000 acres of land from €5 per hectare in 1924 to €50 per hectare by 2029. This represents an increase of 900% on farmers who cannot afford to pay. Lismore Estates will not provide a “letter of evidence” to prove land is being leased. Without such a letter no farm payments will be made and will not be while the dispute continues. It is these requirements on farmers to provide a “commonage evidence letter” which are proving problematic for the farmers which Lismore Estates and their owner, the Duke of Devonshire, are more than aware of and are weaponising.
Throughout the nineteenth century rural Ireland launched many campaigns, some armed and violent, against landlordism and those landlords absent living in Britain and England in particular. Absentee Landlords made huge amounts of money out of lands they owned in Ireland charging high rents from tenants to live on these estates. The struggle to end the system which facilitated ‘Absentee Landlords’ resulted in various Land Acts between 1870 and 1923 which supposedly broke the landlord system. However it appears the Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish, and his son William Cavendish, the Earl of Burlington, owners of Lismore Estates in the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Waterford are practicing absentee landlordism and making a fortune in 2026. It is beyond belief these British parasitical aristocrats can do this in a country who supposedly achieved independence in 1922. It is evident the anti-treaty side were, in principle, correct in the Irish Civil War and the bullshit fed to the population by the fledgeling government side in order to gain their acceptance of said treaty did not contain the whole truth!
The Duke of Devonshire and his son live cosy lives in England doing next to fuck all in productive work. They cream off huge profits from their interests, estates, in Ireland and have decided within their wisdom to increase the rents of sheep farmers who lease 8,000 acres of land from €5 per hectare in 1924 to €50 per hectare by 2029. This represents an increase of 900% on farmers who cannot afford to pay. Lismore Estates will not provide a “letter of evidence” to prove land is being leased. Without such a letter no farm payments will be made and will not be while the dispute continues. It is these requirements on farmers to provide a “commonage evidence letter” which are proving problematic for the farmers which Lismore Estates and their owner, the Duke of Devonshire, are more than aware of and are weaponising.
Sinn Fein TD, Conor McGuiness, raised the issue with the Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon TD, in the Dail. Mr McGuiness said; “I know the Minister will not intervene but the department has effectively taken a side in an ongoing dispute by holding farmers over a barrel”. Mr Haydon responded by saying “I am aware of the case in Waterford which Deputy McGuiness has raised”. Some response!
If as Mr McGuiness claimed and the Minister did not refute Mr Haydon will “not get involved” what the fuck do we have Ministers for? The Minister for Transport will not get involved in transport disputes, the Minister for Health will not get involved in disputes in the Health Service and now the Minister for Agriculture will not get involved in a case which is a throwback to the nineteenth century, why are these highly paid government Ministers in office, what is their purpose?
Unlike Hauliers, and rich farmers these sheep farmers do not have huge tractors and articulated lorries, each costing a working life’s salary, to use as barricades as do those involved in the fuel dispute. The government are involved in talks with these millionaire farmers and Hauliers but refuse to have anything to do with tackling the Duke of Devonshire who is clearly exploiting these sheep farmers!
The truth is the Twenty-Six-County government are on the side of the rich and powerful, even English ones, and would be prepared to see Irish farmers go to the wall rather than upset the Duke of Devonshire! If this is the case what was the ‘War of Independence’ really all about? Here we have a man living a cushy life in England on money exploited from Irish Sheep Farmers in Ireland who would not be out of place alongside Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott back in 1880.
Despite these close similarities with those dark old days the Duke of Devonshire appears free to continue the practice of absentee landlordism unmolested by the Twenty-Six-County Government, what kind of administration are they? Why is an English Duke owning land in Ireland in the first place? This is not a little cottage with a few acres it is half a county! Was the War of Independence, among other issues, supposed to rid us of people like Peregrine Cavendish? Many good men and women fought to consign absentee landlordism to the dustbin of history from the Land league, and before, onwards did they really sacrifice their lives for this? Lives sacrificed in order an English Duke can exploit poor Irish Sheep Farmers with rent hikes of 900%?
It has been said the Devonshire’s have been historically good landlords providing money for their tenants during the ‘famine’ of 1845-51. The Cavendish family are and were part of the establishment who through their actions and British Government policies were greatly responsible for the ’famine’ in Ireland. If the Cavendish’s did give money, granted possibly more than others, could it have been conscience money? Guilt for being part of an establishment they refused to condemn as it provided them with a cushy living but, by the same token, felt a certain responsibility for their tenants? If they really wanted to do something they, and others, would have spoken out against the British rich exporting food from Ireland, other than gammy spuds, to be fed upon the tables of the rich and powerful of Britain. It was this removal of beef, dairy, and wheat produce thus leaving the Irish with only a rotten potato crop to live on which was greatly responsible for the ‘famine’ in Ireland which did not occur in other countries hit by potato blight.
It has been said the Devonshire’s have been historically good landlords providing money for their tenants during the ‘famine’ of 1845-51. The Cavendish family are and were part of the establishment who through their actions and British Government policies were greatly responsible for the ’famine’ in Ireland. If the Cavendish’s did give money, granted possibly more than others, could it have been conscience money? Guilt for being part of an establishment they refused to condemn as it provided them with a cushy living but, by the same token, felt a certain responsibility for their tenants? If they really wanted to do something they, and others, would have spoken out against the British rich exporting food from Ireland, other than gammy spuds, to be fed upon the tables of the rich and powerful of Britain. It was this removal of beef, dairy, and wheat produce thus leaving the Irish with only a rotten potato crop to live on which was greatly responsible for the ‘famine’ in Ireland which did not occur in other countries hit by potato blight.
The Devonshire’s would have been much more progressive putting their considerable weight behind stopping these exports of other food stuffs rather than just donating money in the form of various subsidies. The two could have complemented each other, stopping the exports and subsidies. Even allowing for this historical contribution, or lack of, it does not excuse the present Duke of Devonshire increasing rents to €50 per hectare by 2029 from €5 per hectare in 2024. It is the kind of move Captain Boycott would have been proud of especially given what appears to be government support or, at very best, inaction!
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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