RTÉ's Dublin correspondent, John Kilraine welcomes Trevor White's biography of the legendary Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfie Byrne.
The surprising thing about reading Alfie is the fact that it has never been done before. The other thing that strikes one is that someone must be making this up! Alfie - a ten time Lord Mayor of Dublin - cycling around the city in a morning suit and top hat and always wearing his chain of office. Out and about from morning to night, greeting so many people at so many functions that he was nicknamed by a contemporary comedian as the "Shaking Hand of Dublin."
In his new biography of Alfie Byrne, Author Trevor White cites a comparison once made with Charlie Chaplin. However, there is also the touch of Forrest Gump about how he appears at key points of the twentieth century without ever being a major player. During the 1916 Rising, Alfie was out wearing white armbands trying to prevent looting. He served as an MP in the House of Commons, as a TD in the Dáil, had a private audience with Pope Pius XI and was made Freeman of Toronto.
Though he was an independent TD with strong links to Fine Gael and strongly anti-Communist, Alfie always championed the plight of the poor. He did after all come from the Sheriff Street area of Dublin’s North Inner City and his father had lost his job for union activities. He remained wildly popular in Dublin particularly among women and got a bigger personal vote than de Valera in the 1927 General Election. He worked the constituency, throwing parties for thousands of city school-children in the Mansion House and replying to thousands of letters from people looking for help. There would be a queue of people outside his office in the morning looking for his favour. He was reputed to have promised to put shoes on the footless of Dublin. While reading this book, whose full title is Alfie The Life and Times of Alfie Byrne one does get fleeting images of contemporary Irish politicians, of all different hues.
Alfie earned the enmity of nationalists for his Anglophilia – he had opposed the 1916 Rising and wanted Ireland to remain part of the Commonwealth. He also earned the disdain of left-wingers for his ties to big business and his clientelist approach to politics.
Jim Larkin, who was a long-time rival called him "Alfie Bung" and he was left unconscious after physical attacks by Larkin supporters on two occasions. However, Alfie was above all else a pragmatist who revelled in local politics. During the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, Alfie awarded the Freedom of Dublin to the papal legate Cardinal Lauri. However the Fianna Fáil government refused to allow the army band to take part in the ceremony because the Governor-General – the representative of the British Monarch in Ireland and a resented legacy of the treaty – had also been invited. Alfie then did a deal with Jim Larkin who agreed to supply a trade union band on condition Alfie buy them new uniforms.
Little remains of his memory in Dublin now, apart from a small piece of public housing in the North Inner City and one kilometre of road near Clontarf which are named after him.
Trevor White as creator of Dublin’s Little Museum has a track record of uncovering gems of historical memorabilia. He has hit pay-dirt with this book which has been shortlisted for a Bord Gáis award. A great read.
John Kilraine
