Muintir na Tíre pioneered and were involved in promoting many new concepts and technologies in its 80 year history. They were involved in rural electrification, group
water schemes, community alert and community development. They had prominent Irish
sociologists involved in the organisation in the 1940s to the 1990s. Among these
were Jeremiah Newman, Bishop of Limerick, Dr Thomas Morris, Archbishop of
Cashel and Emly and Tomas Roseingrave.
Within the Muintir na Tíre collection we are lucky to have the
papers relating to Muintir na Tíre of Dr Thomas Morris and of Tomas Roseingrave.
We do have correspondence from Jeremiah Newman but these are contained in the correspondence
of Muintir na Tíre not his own papers.
Dr Thomas Morris was the National Recording Secretary of
Muintir na Tíre. He was Vice President of the diocesan seminary, St Patrick’s
college in Thurles and became Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in 1960. In the
archive we have correspondence that was received by Dr Morris with regard to
the work of Muintir na Tíre, his role as editor of Landmark and with regard to
his views on sociology, rural Ireland and community development.
He was concerned with the internal organisation and
structures of Muintir na Tíre and produced papers on how the secretary should
work, the use of filing systems and the structures of guilds.
In the 1940s and 1950s the Catholic Church were vocal against
Communism across Europe. This view was supported by both Canon Hayes and Dr
Morris who spoke out against communism in Ireland. Below we have an example from a paper written by Dr Morris on this.
He also looked at community development in rural Ireland.
One of the papers in the archive is ‘Organisation of Rural Workers’ which looks
at the history and structure of the agricultural industry, growth of workers’
associations and the parish organisation in Muintir na Tíre.
The other prominent sociologist involved in Muintir na Tíre
was Tomas Roseingrave, who had a Master’s Degree in social science from UCD. He
was Director of manpower studies in the Department of Labour. In 1968 he became
the second National Director of Muintir na Tíre. He resigned from the post in
1975 but continued on as consultant National Director and was involved until his death in 1993. In
1973 he became a member of the EEC Economic and Social Committee where he was President in the 1981.
Roseingrave was a constant in Muintir na Tíre from 1968 to
his death in 1993. His work as National Director included setting the direction
of the organisation, developing policy and organising the administration and
staff. He communicated with various organisations
and government departments on behalf of Muintir na Tíre and also represented them on
various committees and bodies.
He also led a number of Muintir na Tíre projects. As the
lead on the E.E.C. Pilot project the Community
Development Officers reported to him on their work. The outcome of this was
the report Pilot Scheme on Training Programme for Community Development
Officers.
He also wrote many paper on community development. Below is
an example of an article he wrote for Community
Focus in 1979
and this paper published in 1974.
In his role on the Economic and Social Committee he became
well versed on European issues and was a support of Ireland joining the E.E.C.
He was very concerned with community development and the improvement of rural
life and decreasing the gap between rich and poor. This can be seen in his
address at the Plenary Session of the Economic and Social Committee in December
1981.
Muintir na Tíre have been very lucky to have prominent
sociologists involved to help develop the theme of community development down
through the years.
