Timothy Quill Quotes

Mr. de Valera has stated that there would be a big change in this country before the war is over. The sooner that change comes, the better, and when it comes it would be for the better of the workers.

His role in the expulsion of Michael O’Riordan (who founded the Communist Party of Ireland) from the Labour Party served to underline his assertion that ‘the working men of Ireland...have neither room nor scope for fascism or communism’.

The County Council has been described as a council of tinkers, but I wish to turn it into a council of thinkers.

He was a renowned orator.

I came back to four years of internment. Following my release from the Curragh Camp and my return to Cork in 1943, I was among those who founded the Liam Mellows Branch of the Labour Party in the hope that it might become the political voice of Irish anti-fascism in this city. I was named secretary of that branch but unfortunately the chairman we were given by the Party leadership was a Cork City Councillor who would debase the name of Labour in 1944 by a vitriolic attack on what he called "the Jew boys" of Cork. It was in opposition to such anti-Semitism that I insisted on giving a public lecture under the auspices of the Liam Mellows Branch on the subject of the Jewish question. A number of prominent members of Cork's Jewish community attended that public meeting and the future Lord Mayor of Cork, Gerald Goldberg, said from the floor: "I came here to defend my people, but when I heard the lecturer I saw there was no need". But the anti-Semitic Labour Councillor did not give up. When Gerald Goldberg subsequently made a donation to branch funds I was accused of attempting to 'subvert the Party with Jewish money'. An investigating committee was established, presided over by a Labour TD. The complaint against me was sustained and I was expelled from a Party that was not prepared to support my continuing anti-fascist stand in 1944.

Why should films not be used for Irish-Ireland purposes and for the proper appreciation of scenery and beauty?

W.T Cosgrave claims that emigrants are only going to America to see their friends, but it seems to be a long trip. Likewise, there is not much of the appearance of adventure in the boys and girls who are going across to England, which brings with it the usual breaking of family ties and the same scenes at the stations as of old. Very little reference appears to the dangers of the Faith and morals of these boys and girls, alone in an English city, where they have to work with people with a completely different outlook.

I regret very much the reverse that has been sustained, where we have lost men like Mr. (Tom) Johnson, who, because of his industry and ability, would receive a place of honour in any Parliament in the world, and young men of the ability and honesty of Mr. Quill, who had been defeated in North Cork by a mere handful of votes, after making a marvellous fight against a combination of influences.

But it is not the Governor General alone (or is it Governor's General?) that Clondrohid can boast of. There is a little plough land up that way which produced three Deputies. Dan Corkery of Macroom is a popular member of the Government Party, T.J. Murphy of West Cork, is one of Labour's most active deputies; and Tim Quill, who, I think, was a member of the Dail some years ago, is going forward again at the coming General Election in the interests of Labour. But then Clondrohid always had bright boys.

Timothy knew farming wasn't just a job, but instead, a way of life.

He is 26 years of age, and appears a boy amongst the general body of deputies, the vast majority of whom are well past the meridian of life. Mr. Quill is a young man of great promise and I shall not be surprised if in years to come he distinguishes himself in the sphere of public duty to which the electors have promoted him.

We will not discuss the question as to whether the measure of freedom we have obtained is sufficient or otherwise. That is a question on which many people differ. Our complaint in the Labour Movement is that the liberty obtained is not being utilised for the development of the country as it should be, for even at tonight, to a considerable extent, 50,000 to 60,000 people in the Free State are unemployed and many hungry. The one democratic bank we had, the National Land Bank, has been handed over to the Bank of Ireland. We stand for decent wages and conditions. If the workers of the country have decent wages, business in the country will improve, as the shopkeepers and the farmers who want a market for their products will benefit. They will not eliminate unemployment by exporting the best workers of the country to America and by compelling those who have to remain at home to live on out-door relief. We seek a decent, contented and independent working class in the country - not a state of affairs that made despised and degraded paupers of the people.

Quill was the anti-Semitic red-baiting villain of the piece who had both Nagle and O'Riordan expelled.

It is now becoming recognised in all parts of the world that there can be no healthy Christian State, in any country, where poverty exists amongst the masses of the people.

While people are allowed to elect a Government or Corporation, they are deprived of any real power, as there exists a financial dictatorship that causes high rents, excessive prices and profits.