Jack Murphy (Irish Politician) - Accusations

Accusations

In the wake of his resignation and emigration to Canada, Murphy became a convenient scape-goat and was pilloried by established politicians, rivals and even certain former supporters. Indeed for the remainder of his life he endured an unrelentingly hostile and negative campaign from many quarters which attempted to put an unfavourable "spin" on both his intentions and his actions as a TD. He later responded to several of the chief accusations laid against him in the article "Why I left Ireland" as told to Jim Flanagan which was published in The Sunday Review on 29 March 1959.

One accusation is he used his influence as a TD to cheat the system and assist supporters. However Murphy himself stated emphatically to Jim Flanagan in this article how he was careful to avoid abusing his influence as a TD. For example he refused to get jobs for people, as other TDs both before and after him did as a matter of course, rather electing to help people via existing support structures: "I did what I could, for they were all my friends... there was far too much place hunting, as far as I could I helped those who were in trouble, mainly through the labour exchange."

Another allegation of note which was circulated against Murphy after his emigration to Canada was that over the fifteen months he worked as a TD he had secretly hoarded large amounts of money from his monthly salary at the expense of his supporters and then "ran off to Canada with a fortune". This accusation is evidently disproved by even the most cursory examination of Murphy's later status and circumstance. Immediately following his resignation he was once again unemployed and in a move contrary to his own avowed principles and stated desires he was forced to emigrate due to a combination of a lack of funds and being blacklisted by employers for being too political. His subsequent dire initial situation in Canada, his continued lack of money upon his return to Ireland, and the telling fact that he worked for the remainder of his life in factories and building sites as a carpenter until his premature death all clearly demonstrate daily financial struggle. Moreover, during his time in office, articles of the period saluted Murphy for distributing the majority of his salary in donations to families in distress and old persons in dire poverty - with he himself drawing from his parliamentary pay no more than the equivalent salary of a qualified carpenter.

Other charges later laid against Murphy take the form of more direct ad hominem attacks. There were several examples of these, most notably those catalogued in "The Communist Party of Ireland, A Critical History, Part 3" which bewails Murphy's "political inexperience" along with implied egotism behind the assertion that he resigned and emigrated because he could "neither act as Dáil mouthpiece for or national leader of the movement". This article attributes an egotism to Murphy which is notably absent in any other recorded sources. Indeed independent articles of the day (that is written and published by neither the UPC nor its associates) refer to Murphy as "quite free from personal vanity or presumption" and speak of his "honesty, integrity and sincerity". In addition on no occasion did Murphy ever seek, or claim, "leadership" of the unemployed or any other movement - on the contrary it is very noticeable that in both his own published writings and in his speeches to the Dáil he very seldom refers to himself at all (preferring to talk in terms of "we, the unemployed") but whenever he does speak of himself in first person, he referred to himself as merely a "representative" of the unemployed.

A final accusation made against Murphy in absentia after his emigration was that he resigned and left Ireland because he was not up to the task of solving the emigration and unemployment issues or that he reneged on promises to do the same. In fact Murphy himself explicitly stated at the time of his election that he never intended to solve the unemployment crises. Instead he specifically says that his sole purpose in the Dáil is to allow the unemployed voice their concern and put pressure on the political parties in government to make good on election promises to address these critical issues: "We shall continue to focus the plight of the unemployed in Dáil Éireann by our representation, who was not put there to solve this scourge of unemployment, but to put added pressure on the political parties who have it in their power to bring about some measure of relief to the unemployed and to ensure the future of the employed."

Jack Murphy's repeated his efforts to bring these same urgent national issues to debate in the Dáil during his term. The numerous recorded speeches he made during his term in office show his integrity, sincerity and the commitment he had to fulfilling his promise to highlighting the plight of the unemployed - a commitment which ultimately exacted a heavy toll on both his own health and his family.

"I tried hard all along and no one can say that I did not try to spot-light the problems and evils of our country."