Local Government
Introduction
from Chronology
Dublin Castle withdraws all aid to local authorities who had recognised
the Dáil.
More Information
Up until this point, many local authorities (County Councils, Urban District
Councils, Rural District Councils and the Poor Law Unions) had passed motions
of allegiance to the Dáil but continued to correspond with (and thereby
recognise) the Local Government Board (LGB) in the Customs House.
This loss of the grants from the LGB gives rise to severe financial
hardship for local authorities as their grants amounted to one-fifth of the
annual revenue of the councils (with approximately four-fifths coming from
rates). In another attempt by Dublin Castle to undermine Sinn Féin control of
local authorities, under the provisions of the Malicious Injuries Act, damage
to people and property was charged to local rates (paid for by local property
owners). As the damage done by the IRA,
the British Army and the RIC mounted, so did the number of claims and, with it,
pressure on local rates.
McCluskey indicates that some local authorities in Tyrone, even after
recognising the Dáil, continued to work with the LBG and, more generally,
adherence to the boycott of the LBG was quite often ‘observed in the
breach’.
See Chapter 2 of Hughes (2016) for an extended discussion of this
issue.
See Dec-21-20/5.