JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

114 SAOTHAR 13first election as a delegate to the Trades Council, he then became a member of the RCA committee andrepresented the union between 1945-50 to negotiate pay agreements with the Company. By 1945 Deasyhad become a delegate to the Dublin Trades Council (DTC) and was present at the meeting before itsplit into the Dublin Council of Irish Unions (DCIU) and the DTC.6 loe served on a Prices Sub­Committee and remained a delegate to the DTC until 1952. Embarked on his political activist career,Deasy turned his attention to cultural matters.I joined the Gaelic League in Inchicore and met a chap by the name ofDonal McGregor and he gaveme the name of a theatre group which I should join.7 He told me they were doing a particular play byClifford Odets called 'Awake and Sing' . 8 So I went down to the theatre which was based in RutlandPlace, sat through the play and afterwards indicated a desire to join the group. It was 1941.The New Theatre Group (NTG ), however was to influence Deasy's socialist thinking to aconsiderable degree. In concurrence with most Irish thinking of the '30' s Deasy was very pro-Franco.M cGregor, brother of Liam McGregor killed with the International Brigade in Spain, was thefirst manto ever put forward the other side of the Spanish Civil War case. The NTG was also one of the onlytheatres in Ireland to have an experimentalist aspect to it. 'Awake and Sing' was produced by MadameCogley who had been a founder of the Gate Theatre and associated with MacLiamm6r and Edwards.At first I had no idea that the New Theatre Group had any ideological dimensions ... thingsdeveloped from there. It was during some of the plays in which I participated that I got talking to someof the other members of the Group and it began to dawn on me that there was something here involvedother than just a drama group. I think you could say that the first socialist spark ignited when we wereperforming Odets' play 'Waiting For Leftie', the first play incidently in which I got a good part. Myleft wing inclinations further came to the fore in a play by Miles Malleson called the' Six Men of Dorset' ,a play about the Tolpuddle Martyrs. As I stood in the wings waiting for my cue something clicked. Thiswas more important than the Theatre - this was part of a struggle. This was the culmination point whenI decided to get involved in the socialist and labour movement.Deasy cherished a hankering to make a vocation of the theatre.I askedJoe McColum, Manager of the NTG, whether I should give up my job and go into full timeacting.9 Joe said no, pointing out what an impossible life it could be. Maybe he was too polite to tellme that he didn't think I'd make the grade as a professional.Deasy became increasingly involved in the Labour Party becoming Chairman and Secretaryrespectively of the Inchicore Branch. He also workedfor limLarkin in the 1943/44 General Election,when the latter wasfirst elected to the Dail. Ayear later it was suggested by Donal McGregor' smother,Esther, that Deasy run as a candidate in the 1945 Local Elections. 10At that time we were a well known family in the area. So at 22 I stood for election and got electedto the City Council. It was claimed on my behalf that I was the youngest Councillor on DublinCorporation since Sean T. O'Kelly was elected at the age of 21. I was then the youngest Councillorin the country. .Deasy was a member of Dublin Corporation from 1945-50. The issues of the time included thePrices and Housing Campaigns and the Teachers' Strike of 1946. He has many vivid recollections ofpersonalities and events.One of my colleagues at the time was the late Jim Larkin Senior. I must say it was always an event