Irishman's Diary

They are the stuff of legend, still talked about in the smoke-filled rooms in Leinster House. Soon, memories of them will be evoked again when the politicians take to the hustings in the Cork South Central by-election. The by-elections of the 1960s were remarkable affairs - colourful, sometimes intensely bitter, with torch-lit processions and huge final rallies. Old Civil War memories sometimes surfaced.

A central figure was the late Neil Blaney, a Fianna Fail Minister and director of elections until he broke with the party in the aftermath of the 1970 arms crisis. His brother, Harry Blaney, is Independent TD for Donegal North-East and sits in the Dail next to the South Kerry Independent TD, Jackie Healy-Rae, one of Neil Blaney's key lieutenants when he secured some unexpected victories for Fianna Fail. Mr Healy-Rae left Fianna Fail before the last general election in a row following his failure to secure a nomination. In subsequently winning a seat as an Independent, he drew on the experience gained when helping Neil Blaney garner votes decades earlier.

Epic battles

Mr Healy-Rae's involvement in those by-elections is chronicled in his biography, The Mighty Healy-Rae, written by Donal Hickey, a senior journalist with the Examiner who has known him for more than 20 years. It gives the flavour of epic political battles, the likes of which are unlikely to be seen again.

His first by-election was in his native South Kerry in December, 1966. It was important to the newly-elected Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, that victory be secured, and Fianna Fail left nothing to chance as Neil Blaney spearheaded a massive campaign.

But Mr Healy-Rae's man, John O'Leary, had first to gain the party nomination. Canvassing delegates with the Corkbased plant-hire baron Willie O'Brien, of "Let O'Brien shift it" fame, they arrived at a local hall just as a dance was finishing.

Donal Hickey writes: "Part of the strategy in those days was to get popular backing, which would then influence delegates to vote for a certain candidate, O'Leary in this case. O'Brien thought quickly and went to a steaming chip wagon parked near the hall. He ordered 50 brown paper bags of chips drowned in white vinegar and salt, and told O'Leary and Healy-Rae to hand them out to dancers leaving the hall."

Mr O'Leary won the nomination and the by-election and served as TD for the constituency until his retirement at the last general election.

The by-election brought Mr Healy-Rae to the notice of Charles Haughey, then Minister for Agriculture, who said about him to Neil Blaney after a rally in Kenmare: "You'd better keep your finger on this fellow. He'll be a very good man for by-elections." Mr Blaney replied: "You're very right, but you must be expecting a lot of by-elections."

Rubbish dumps

Prophetic words, as Donal Hickey notes. Several by-elections were to follow in rapid succession. Mr Healy-Rae was always accompanied by his friend, Maurice Galvin, of Ironmills, Killarney, who was known for the distinctive gabardine coat draped over his arm and the small suitcase in his hand. Donal Hickey writes: "Along the road to a constituency in some far-flung corner of the country, they would stop at dumps and rummage through the rubbish in search of of old saucepans and sweet gallons. Sometimes they brought turf all the way from Kerry, but if they forgot it they'd stop at a rick here and there for a few bagfuls that would later be put to good use in the cause of Ireland.

"They would nail sticks, four or five feet long, to the cans, having first pierced holes in the sides. Up to 200 cans were needed for the major parades. They would soak a sod for each can in paraffin, petrol or diesel oil. An hour before the rally started, a volunteer force of about ten men would be assembled to get everything ready for handing out, including spectacular creations shaped like goalposts.

"Cans containing blazing sods would be placed all the way along the `crossbars' and two men would hold each set of goalposts aloft. Shades of Klu Klux Klan cross-burnings."

The 1967 Limerick West by-election, which put ail minister, Gerard Collins - later a Minister and MEP - into the Dail to succeed his late father, James Collins, was particularly hard-fought.

"Old IRA men re-emerged for the campaign. . .men with pipes, hats, caps, sticks, waistcoats with pocket-watches and chains, and strings of medals dangling from their lapels," writes Donal Hickey. "Those men, still deeply influenced by the Civil War, loved the cut and thrust of elections and also the colour that Healy-Rae's leaping flames brought to the scene."

Following the Collins victory, there were celebrations in the towns and villages throughout Limerick West. The late Brian Lenihan, then Minister for Justice, told Mr Healy-Rae to spread the word to keep the pubs open.

Bonfires blazed

A senior garda warned that there was to be no bonfire in any town. "Healy-Rae did not agree and, mindful that the Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, was in the constituency that day, cheekily asked the officer if he had ever heard of a remote part of Kerry known as a punishment station for gardai who broke their own rules or were foolish enough to cross powerful politicians," writes Hickey.

The pubs stayed open and bonfires blazed as the celebrations continued with a particular relish in Mr Collins's native Abbeyfeale. Standing on a lorry, Mr Lenihan sang the local ditty, "Abbeyefeale, Abbeyfeale, Abbeyfeale, Abbeyfeale, Knocknagoshel and Duagh," and the large crowd joined in. "There was never," Mr HealyRae said, "a night like it in history."