Letters reveal dispute between Sean Lemass and a Cork TD over tea rations 

THE National Library of Ireland has unveiled a range of items acquired for the national collection this year including a World War II era letter from Seán Lemass to Cork politician regarding tea rations.

The letters between Minister of Supplies Seán Lemass and Cork politician TP Dowdall TD date from 1918 to 1975.

The Cork TD wrote to the Department of Supplies, pleading for an increase in his tea ration.

In 1941, Lemass responded wryly to the Corkman: “Keeping up with your correspondence is imposing a strain on the resources of my department. However, I feel I must write to you in reply to your representations concerning tea.

“If, as you say, you require four to six pints of liquid every day and won’t drink whiskey, coffee, cocoa, milk, or even water, you are going to have a problem. I fear, however, that you will have to solve this problem by yourself.”

The letter is part of the Fawsitt-Dowdall Papers, a selection of correspondence, photographs, personal papers, and ephemera from Cork politicians Diarmuid Fawsitt, TP Dowdall, James C Dowdall and Jennie Dowdall, and their son, Finbarr Dowdall.

The Seán Lemass letter is catalogued and can be consulted in the manuscripts reading room by anyone with a reader’s ticket: Also among the acquisitions were vintage posters from Mallow cinema.

These 1960 posters from the Cork cinema bring the excitement of ‘going to the pictures’ to see films such as My Fair Lady vividly to life.

The period represents the height of cinema in the social life of Ireland, just ahead of the advent of TV.

Speaking about the additions to the national collection during 2022, acting director of the library , Katherine McSharry, said: “The job of collecting Ireland’s memory in every age, whether from the 16th century or 2022, is a year-round one for the team at the National Library.”

All the acquisitions in 2022 join the library’s 12m items, including books, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, prints, drawings, maps, letters, diaries, websites and more. The library’s work is funded from its annual grant from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.