But the struggle, which had "brought Clondalkin Paper Mills workers the closest to forcing the state to nationalise to save jobs"(2), wasn't over yet. Part 2 takes up the story from February I983. The (Fine Gael-Labour Coalition) government had purchased but not reopened the mill.
After February 8th the sit-in ended "almost straight away". The Committee continued to met regularly as did some of the workers (3). Not long after the ending of the CPM sit-in the Ranks workers, occupying their Mill at Phibsborough in Dublin, were jailed. ·Workers from many workplaces across the city stopped work and took to the streets. There was serious talk (as opposed to leaflet talk) of a general strike and the Dublin Council of Trade Unions called a march for Saturday 26th February. It was a build-up similar to (but with the bite of actual stoppages) that for CPM earlier in the month and then again for CPM later in the year. The Ranks workers were released at 1 a.m. on the 26th. Nevertheless the Trades Council march went ahead (deflated in numbers but elated in spirit because of the releases) with the Ranks workers, their families and their placards surrounding the DCTU banner at the head of the march. The next banner behind was that of the 'Clondalkin Paper Mills Action Group' (4).
As the months of the industrial battlefield that was 1983 rolled by, the mill remained becalmed and unopened. The ICTU together with Action Committee members met John Bruton, the Minister for Industry and Energy, on 22nd June. They were told that the government would not re-open the Paper Mills as a state industry. It would only open if taken over by private interests (such as the Canadian company then talking to the IDA). Bruton, it was reported, told Congress that the government only agreed to buy the Mill, not to re-open it (5). The Clondalkin workers were quite clear that the commitment given on 8th February was to the purchase of the plant and to the re-opening schedule laid down by the previous, Fianna Fail, government (6).
Congress called for a meeting with Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and urged the workers not to do anything that might scare away the Canadians or give the government an excuse not to meet Congress. The Mill workers responded by giving the ICTU time to talk to Fitzgerald, but they also responded angrily to Bruton's betrayal of 22nd June by beginning a campaign of 'civil disruption' to highlight the breach of faith and to bring the issue back to public attention. Two hundred CPM workers and their families blocked the Naas dual carriageway outside the city. Further traffic disruptions followed including the city centre (7).
This phase of their struggle was deliberately one of "non-trade-union activities".The Clondalkin workers were before long to embrace the most direct industrial methods again, and even at this stage their leaders let it be known that 'trade union activities' were only temporarily parked. It was reported that if Fitzgerald confirmed Bruton's decisions they would be seeking, through their unions and Congress, the blacking of paper by public sector workers. Gerry Courtney, Chair of the Action Committee, said: "If it (the 8th February agreement) is reneged on and the ICTU and the trade union leaders don't bring the full power of the movement into operation, then there is no future for trade unions in this country." Paul Billings, the Secretary of the Committee said: "We have done nearly all we can as a group of trade unionists. It looks now as if we will be needing the support of the entire labour movement and the local community to pull us through. Without that support, we cannot defeat a government, and that is what we are faced with" (8).
Still the months passed and the mill remained unopened. Myles Speight sets the scene for the next development: "Brian (Nolan) and myself had discussed the situation for quite a while. Our campaign had gone on so long, and there was a bit of disillusionment settling in, especially with the Committee. We had had a tremendous campaign, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. We had a picket going on down on the Government Stationary Office for a period of time and it didn't seem to be going anywhere; there was a low profile from the government and other people on it, and even from our own trade union leaders. I felt something drastic had to be done; and I felt so strong at the time - and I know Brian did as well - on the issue, that we took the step" (9).
What the step was is recorded in an 'Irish Times' heading of 2nd November 1983, 'Mill workers threaten fast', accompanied by a photograph of the two and the following report by Eugene McEldowney:
"Two former employees of the Clondalkin Paper Mills in Dublin, Mr. Myles Speight and Mr. Brian Nolan, are threatening to go on hunger strike to-morrow to press the Government to reopen the mills. The move follows a decision last week by the Minister for Energy, Mr. Bruton, not to reopen the mills unless they can be made financially viable. The announcement has led to heated exchanges between Mr.Bruton and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions which has called for a public enquiry into the Government's handling of the mills issues and demanded Mr. Bruton' resignation. The Government bought the mills last February for £1.7 million, but so far they have not reactivated it. Yesterday a delegation from the ICTU met the Fianna Fail leader, Mr. Haughey, and a joint statement later said that both sides agreed that reopening the mills was essential from the national and strategic viewpoints, and the interests of the workers. Fianna Fail agreed to pursue the question of re-opening the mills with the Government, and to take whatever parliamentary action is open to them, to compel the Taoiseach and the Government to honour their commitments".
The industrial context was that a (domestic) gas dispute was in progress, a two-month (industrial) gas strike, at IIG, was about to be settled that day (2nd), and, also that day, ESB workers on a half-day unofficial stoppage rallied in front of the Dail against the threatened closure of power stations.
On 3rd November Myles Speight and Brian Nolan began their hunger strike in the mill and gained the front page. Other Clondalkin workers also resumed their occupation on the same day. AUEW-TASS (Brian Nolan's union) tabled a Motion for the next meeting of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions calling for a day of action on the issue to include a work stoppage.
A large sign was put up in Clondalkin village proclaiming how many days the two had fasted. The small office where they stayed was seldom without visitors (10). 'Mill workers pledge a death fast', proclaimed an 'Irish Times' report of 8th November, marking the sixth day off food. There was a photograph of the two with their wives, Catherine Nolan and Kathleen Speight. The men said they were willing to fast to the death. The women were not quite sure about the death part. Myles was 45 and Brian was 35. Two of Myles sons had recently been made redundant. A statement from Brian Nolan declared, "In the light of our complete disillusionment we address ourselves specifically to all workers of the country and ask them to show solidarity and do whatever is necessary." The AUEW engineering section was expected to call that day for a series of one day strikes. There was a possibility of more joining the hunger strike.
Dick Spring, the Tanaiste and leader of the Labour Party, and other members of the parliamentary party, met the Dublin South-West (Clondalkin) Constituency Council of the party on the evening of the 8th. The Council Chairperson said later that Dick Spring had reaffirmed his promise to the workers a year previously that the Mill would be reopened. This contrasted with John Bruton's recent statement that the mill would only be reopened if commercially viable. The government would be considering another IDA report on the mill the following morning. In the light of these developments the Constituency Council was calling on the two to suspend their protest. The same evening the Dublin Council of Trade Unions called for a one day stoppage and demonstration in support of the Clondalkin workers.
Mr. Spring's support, however, needed 'clarification' in the cold light of the following day. According to the 'Irish Times' (10th November), "Reports yesterday that the Tanaiste, Mr. Spring, had 'reaffirmed his promise to the workers a year ago that the mills would be reopened' were clarified yesterday by Mr. Spring and the Labour TD for the constituency Mr. Mervyn Taylor. Mr. Taylor said yesterday that it was 'a commitment to open it subject to some form of viability.' The need for viability may have been more implicit than explicit in Mr. Spring's remarks, made to a constituency party meeting, but there had been no change in his position." Truly, Dick Spring's spindoctors flourished a clear decade before Tony Blair's!
Charles Haughey visited the hunger strikers on Wednesday 9th. He asked them, unsuccessfully, to give up their strike, or at least to suspend it until a Fianna Fail Motion on Clondalkin was debated in the Dail the following week. They were determined to continue their fast.
It was the seventh day and Brian Nolan said: "The doctors told us that we were now clinically starving (11)." When Brian's brother, Niall, tried to collect his £26 unemployment assistance on his behalf on this same day the local office, after consulting a senior official in the Department of Social Welfare, refused to pay it.
On the evening of the 9th Garret Fitzgerald, the Taoiseach, met the ICTU on the future of the mill. According to that morning's 'Irish Times', "The Clondalkin affair has put a severe strain on relations between the ICTU and the Government. It is understood that the Congress had to exert considerable pressure on the Taoiseach to secure to-day's meeting, and that, had the meeting not been arranged, the ICTU was prepared to boycott scheduled talks with the Government on economic matters." (Don't scoff; for Congress to forego talks with the government on economic matters is a real sacrifice.)
The meeting lasted more than three hours. Spring and Bruton were also present. The ICTU statement afterwards said, in toto, " The Government informed the ICTU representatives that two projects were under consideration for reopening of Clondalkin Paper Mills, but were unable to give assurances that the mills would reopen if these proposals were not successfully concluded. The delegation stated that in these circumstances no purpose could be served in pursuing discussions at the present time," (Would that Congress statements were today so short, and so sweet.) The government statement said, "With a view to securing the re-opening of the Clondalkin Paper Mills as a viable operation the IDA is currently negotiating with a Canadian company Freedham McCormack Investments (FMI) and is also in touch with another company". The government said some time was needed for the IDA to explore these two alternatives.
The next day, Thursday 10th, the Dublin Printing Trades Group of unions called on all its members to support the Dublin Council of Trade Union's stoppage fully. Joe Higgins of the Administrative Council of the Labour Party (now the Socialist Party TD) called on the party to "give an unconditional guarantee that the mill would be reopened shortly under State Ownership."
Less predictable parts of the Labour Party were also concerned that unconditional commitments be given. It seems that the Clondalkin branch of the party was unhappy with the 'clarification' of the statements made at Tuesday's Constituency Council meeting. The branch sent a detailed file to all Labour TDs. The file included a letter written by Dick Spring on 22 November 1982, to John O'Keefe of the Action Committee. It said, "On behalf of the Labour Party I wish to reiterate that we are in favour of the re-opening of the mills and the maintaining of employment there. We will do all in our power to bring this about", and made no reference to the need for the mill to be viable before being reopened (12).
An extraordinary war of words, between the ICTU and John Bruton and the government, developed out of Bruton's statements in the Dail that day (Thursday 10th). The conflict was about whether a commitment to reopen had been given with or without a 'viability' condition, and centred on contradictory accounts of meetings in February. Bruton said: "No commitment of the kind suggested by Congress was made by me at that meeting ( February 8th)... It would be entirely wrong for anyone to take a course of action based on a false perception of what the Government actually committed themselves to. Those who propagate a false impression of what the Government were actually committed to contribute to a worsening of that situation."
But Brian Nolan said on television that evening; "We are not trying to elicit any new policies or commitments from the Government. This is merely a protest at the Government's delay in implementing a State Commitment to the ICTU on February 8th."
On Friday 11th November the ICTU said that the February meetings were in the context of a commitment from the previous (Fianna Fail) government that the mill would be reopened. In support of this Congress quoted from a letter from the former Minister for Energy, Albert Reynolds, as follows: "On completion of refurbishment, the mills will be reopened and employment phased in, in relation to market demand to achieve production on a two machine basis." The ICTU statement continued: "We do not accept that the Government would have perpetrated a confidence trick on Congress and the Clondalkin workers by using taxpayers' money simply to purchase some real estate as a ploy to head off a serious situation that was developing in February last. The mills were purchased as a step towards their re-opening and the provision of a paper-making facility at Clondalkin" (13). (Come back Donal Nevin, all is forgiven.)
That night John Bruton strongly denied he had ever given any commitment to reopen the mill regardless of its commercial viability. Bruton said that 'the propagation of information to the contrary, was contributing to the prolongation of the hunger strike.' That night also a government spokesperson denounced "as false and irresponsible a suggestion by the ICTU general secretary, Mr. Donal Nevin, that a Government commitment extended to reopening the mills without reference to their viability." (14).
In the Clondalkin area Sean McBride, Nobel-but-not-yet-Lenin Peace Prize winner, addressed a public meeting , saying that the government was guilty of "gross breach of faith with the workers and the ICTU." That evening too, the executive council of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions set the day of action for the following Thursday, to include a strike and a demonstration. Sam Nolan, DCTU secretary (as he still is), said that they expected a massive response for the day of action. He said that the Council was giving its full backing to the Clondalkin workers, whose struggle they viewed as part of the overall fight against unemployment" (15).
By Saturday 12th the Clondalkin struggle was front-page headlines again. A Labour Youth march and rally at Liberty Hall, Dublin, attended by 1,000 young people it was said, with banners from the major unions, was led by a group of CPM workers and addressed by Niall Nolan.
Over the week-end the intense verbal swordplay continued. On Sunday Bruton said the reopening of the mill was a matter of "commercial judgment in a commercial market." He warned that public arm twisting would not be successful as far as he was concerned. Brian Nolan replied, "We are not attempting to twist anyone's arm...we are merely protesting at the lengthy delay in the implementation of the commitment already made to the ICTU that the November timetable would be adhered to." (16) The hunger strikers insisted that they intended to go on with their fast.
The first ICTU statement of that Sunday was to concede that it had been mistaken in thinking that Bruton had personally committed himself in February to reopening the mill! A major strike to Bruton in the war of words, which he was not slow to exploit. In its second statement that day the ICTU said, "Congress asserts that the Clondalkin workers are quite right in saying that there is a Government commitment on the basis of the five-point agreement made with the previous Government in Mr. Reynolds' letter of November 16th, 1982. In this they have the full backing and support of Congress." (17)
Bruton responded with a second statement of his own that night: "(The ICTU) now claim that the commitment of the previous defeated Government in regards to Clondalkin binds the present Government. This is not so, and never was accepted by me or the present Government in any of its meetings with Congress. The previous Government was defeated at the last election and a new one was elected. Elections would make no sense if new ones were bound, regardless of all other considerations, to follow the policies of their predecessors. I will stick to my policy of seeking the opening of the mill on a viable basis."
He also said, "One of those now on hunger strike has specifically stated the reason for the strike as being a protest at the non-implementation of my commitment of February 8th. By clearly showing that no such commitment was made, the ICTU are helping to bring this protest to an end. Protests and pressure do not affect the viability of paper making which is a matter of commercial judgment in a commercial market. To set up an industry on political grounds without first being satisfied that it could pay its way would be to repeat the Government errors of the 1970s."
Bruton had cut deep with Congress' climbdown on his personal commitments at meetings. Congress had stressed, however, that the underlying issue was the general commitment to reopening without qualifications of 'viability'.Congress would have put themselves on even safer ground (and avoided Bruton's 'democracy' in relation to continuity between governments) by basing their demand for the reopening of the mill on the right to work, by challenging the notion of 'viability' as a a synonym for 'profitability', and demanding that the mill be nationalised if it was incapable of producing profits to the satisfaction of a new owner. This might have been an ideological step too far for Congress, but not for the Clondalkin workers who, although never insisting that the mill be nationalised, were clear that it should be if no new operator could be engaged. The previous government's commitment (at least on paper) to reopen was undoubtedly a major tactical weapon. But Congress based its public support for CPM on this commitment, almost as a special case, a promise made. Bruton's bold stand by the banner of business reality was never really challenged by Congress.
Furthermore, Congress supported reopening but not the hunger strike. This was flagged prior to a visit by Donal Nevin on the following afternoon (Monday 14th) to the hunger strikers and the Clondalkin Action Committee, as was the caveat that he was going in "a personal capacity.' (You see, even general secretaries of Congress do things 'in a personal capacity') (18). The next morning's newspaper carried a delightful photograph of the general secretaries of Congress and the FWUI, Donal Nevin and Billy Attley, at the bedside of Brian Nolan.
Congress kept up the statements duel on Monday the 14th, saying it was news to them that an agreement with one government could be abrogated by its successor without any notification to the other party, and it was more surprising that such abrogation could be retrospectively applied. The Talbot agreement (19) with the Fianna Fail government had been maintained by its Coalition successor. No communication had ever been received, Congress said, that the government wished to abrogate the Clondalkin agreement. However, Congress had this, their fall-back position from the gaff on Bruton's commitment, undermined somewhat when Albert Reynolds himself, on RTE radio that day, stressed the importance he gave to the viability of the mill.
Dublin County Council on Monday had three motions on CPM, from the main parties, before it, which led to a two-hour wrangle. The Labour motion calling for the early reopening of the mills to save the lives of the two, was passed, Labour and Fianna Fail voting together. The Fine Gael motion noting the efforts of the government to reopen the Mill and urging the two to co-operate with it, was also passed, Fine Gael and Labour voting together. The Fianna Fail one, calling on Bruton to resign, fell, Fine Gael and Labour voting together!
The organisers of the Trades Council stoppage and demonstration were that evening predicting that thousands of workers would take part. They said that support was guaranteed from the ITGWU, the FWUI and the ATGWU, the three biggest unions! (20)
The Cabinet again discussed the Clondalkin crisis on Tuesday 15th. There were speculations of a major development in securing a buyer. Nine members of the Administrative Council of the Labour Party called on the Labour deputies to give an unequivocal guarantee that the mill would be reopened. The group said Fitzgerald and Bruton were ideologically opposed to the reopening of the mill as a nationalised industry. An emergency meeting of the Administrative Council was set for the next day.
In the Dail Fianna Fail had put down a Motion calling on he government, "following the purchase of the premises, to honour their clear commitment to have Clondalkin Paper Mills reopened for the production of paper." The motion made no reference to viability. One of it four sponsors was Mary Harney! She bested that in the Dail that evening when she argued that by supporting Bruton on the issue, Labour deputies would be betraying their own philosophy! A Workers Party amendment demanded that the mills be taken over by the state.
Bruton told the Dail a third firm was interested and he hoped their representatives could visit Clondalkin the following week. He claimed that Reynolds' radio recollection showed that his predecessor shared his approach. But Brian Lenihan of Fianna Fail insisted that no government would spend £1.76 million of taxpayers money to buy the mill with the intention of keeping it closed. The vote that evening, he said, would show whether Labour deputies were prepared to support the right-wing ideology of Mr. Bruton up to the hilt! (No vote was actually taken until the following night.)
Myles said they would not suspend the hunger strike in view of the visit by potential buyers referred to in the Dail. There had been visits from all over but it had all come to nothing. They would continue "until such time as we see concrete proposals with a deadline on negotiations." (21). The ASTI and UPTCS unions issued statements calling on their members to support the Trade Council demonstration on Thursday. (Over three hundred job losses in Dublin were announced by Smurfits and Irish Biscuits.)
Myles Speight and Brian Nolan, on Wednesday 16th, the thirteenth day of their hunger strike, called on all workers and fellow trade unionists to show their solidarity by giving full support to the stoppage and march the next day. They had been advised by UCD medical specialists that they would suffer irreversible damage unless they came off the fast in the next couple of days. "We are very weak at the moment", said Brian Nolan. He had lost one stone, three ounces, and Myles a similar weight. 'We have aching joints, headaches and stomach pains, but we are determined to go on until the future of the mills is secure."
The ICTU executive decided that morning to boycott a meeting scheduled for the afternoon with Fitzgerald and government Ministers for talks on the economy. This meeting had already been threatened with a boycott because of CPM but that threat had been lifted when Fitzgerald met Congress on 9th November, unfruitfully, on the issue.
The debate on Clondalkin continued in the Dail that night. It was the fourteenth day of the hunger strike and the eve of the DCTU's 'Day of Action', which was shaping up to be the biggest show of solidarity strike action in the state, in support of a single group of workers, for a long time before and all the time since.
A report of the time ('Irish Times', 11th November) said that on the previous Friday the leaders of the ITGWU, the FWUI and other unions affiliated to the Labour Party were to meet the four Labour Ministers to urge them to give a full commitment to the reopening of the mills. In Fergus Finlay's recent memoirs the former aide to Dick Spring places the meeting on this night, the 16th: "Fianna Fail put down a Private Members Motion condemning the government's handling of the situation. On the night the vote was to be taken on the motion, a delegation of senior trade union people came to see the Labour Ministers. For an hour they harangued the Ministers about how critical it was for the future of the Labour Party that we should not be caught on the wrong side of this vote. Eventually they put their cards on the table. It was Billy Attley who spelled out the demand. 'We're here to make sure you vote against the government to-night,' he said. 'If you don't the party's finished.' It was a delicate moment, requiring tact and diplomacy. Instead Barry (Desmond) spoke. 'As usual, Bill, you're missing the point,' he said. 'We won't be voting against the government. We are the government' " (22).
As the Dail was completing its debate on the motion, Minister of State Eddie Collins suddenly announced an agreement in principle with the Canadian company FMI to take over the mill and initially start paper conversion there. Shortly afterwards the government's motion won by 83 votes to 75. Myles Speight and Brian Nolan agreed to call off their hunger strike. The DCTU cancelled the 'Day of Action' and described the hunger strike outcome as a great victory for the workers and for the trade union movement. (23)
Clondalkin Paper Mills was once again the front page headline the next morning. A Peter Thursfield photograph of Myles and Kathleen Speight captured the moment wonderfully: the sweetest kiss ever to adorn the front page of the 'Irish Times'.
The very first reports of the settlement would have led the boy to shout at the naked emperor. It was painfully obvious that the FMI deal was a stop-gap measure hastily grasped-at: it was only "in principle"; it was only for paper conversion with 30 jobs and not Nor the main work of the mills with 220 jobs expected; FMI had first approached the IDA almost a year previously; the government were still talking to a British company as well about paper making at the mills! One might have been forgiven for dubbing it an exercise in cosmetics to take everybody off the hook.
This was not necessarily the full picture, as the future of the mill was to bear out, whether planned or not. But it was a realistic one, and one shared by many (24), including at first the hunger strikers themselves. When a journalist first showed a copy of Bruton's statement to the two on the 16th, they were pessimistic about an end to the fast. They were dissatisfied with the vagueness of the statement which promised only 30 jobs in the first year rising to 45 in the second! After the Dail proceedings members of the Action Committee together with Donal Nevin and Tom McGrath of the ICTU arrived in Clondalkin from Leinster House. The Committee had a meeting with the ICTU representatives, and after this, it was reported, " the redundant workers supported an end to the hunger strike and appeared satisfied that they had won a victory and a commitment for their jobs" (25). The two ended the fast on the basis of assurances from Congress that every effort would be made to secure the reopening of the plant. "There are details to be thrashed out alright. But the broad outline has been agreed", Brian Nolan said. Neither would give any details of what had been promised apart from referring to the Congress assurances.
A view that the deal was accepted to save face or lives would not fit with the imminence of what looked like being a powerful showing on the Day of Action, the very next day, and the capacity for the two to last at least another day or two.
Tom McGrath issued a statement: "The executive council of the ICTU reaffirms in absolute terms its commitment to the trade union campaign to reopen the Clondalkin Paper Mills. The whole trade union movement pays tribute to Brian Nolan and Myles Speight for their unselfish action, which has brought to the attention of the whole country the terrible scourge of unemployment and the failure of the Government to take effective steps to provide jobs. The trade union campaign must be pursued with renewed vigour, and to this end the Executive Council again affirms its total commitment to achieve this objective."
Paul Billings (now a senior officer of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed), later read a statement on behalf of the Action Committee: "After consultation with the action committee and in conjunction with the statement issued by Congress, the decision was taken this evening to end the hunger strike. We want to thank the entire trade union movement for the swell of support our campaign has received. We are confident that such solidarity will be preserved in the trade union movement and that this will enable workers throughout the land to confront and overcome the scourge of unemployment which is rife today." After medical examination the two were discharged from hospital (26).
The mill reopened and the conversion eventually employed around 70, already an improvement on the skeletal 45. However unlikely it had seemed the mill, now called Leinster Paper Mills (LPM), went on to make paper around the end of 1984. At the beginning of 1987 there were 234 employed. This appears however to have rested on a financial foundation of sand, or rather smoke. Studies of the financial structure of the company (see below) indicate an entrepreneurial veneer bolted on to an assemblage of public money and borrowings, cobbled together in November I983.
As 1986 turned into 1987, 170 production workers were laid off. On New Year's Eve, Foir Teoranta, the state rescue agency, turned down a financial package proposed by LPM. Here began a saga all to itself, of bids for state aid and stays of execution, to end the Clondalkin saga as far as production at the mill was concerned. On 7th January{LPM was put into receivership. That night the plant was occupied, by 30-40 ('Irish Times'), or 60 ('Irish Press') workers. .
The following day the workers agreed to work without payment for the next ten days. The occupation continued with 65 workers in the factory that night. The banks withdrew the receiver the next day (a withdrawal considered practically unprecedented). and gave the mill a 14-day reprieve. (The new sit-in appears to have ended at his point, after two days.) On 23rd January another 14-day reprieve was announced.
The Labour Ministers resigned on 20th and a general election was set for 17th February. Fianna Fail won the most seats in the general election but failed to gain an overall majority. A period followed before Haughey could form a minority government. On the 21st February LPM got yet another reprieve and yet more talks with Foir Teo. followed.
LPM's financial adviser, recommended on 9th March that the company should appoint a receiver. "It has not been possible to attract the necessary level of private capital to justify further state support," he said. Brian Nolan said there were still grounds for optimism. About 150 workers met in the mills after the announcement and "a small number of personnel stayed behind there overnight in what they emphasised was a 'caretaking capacity' " (27). A fourth Clondalkin sit-in?
On the 10th Haughey was elected Taoiseach. The next day a receiver was appointed to the mill. If a date must be fixed for the final end of Clondalkin Paper Mills it is 11th March 1987 (28), although some of the workers kept up an organised involvement with the receiver and then the dismantler until the end of the decade.
The Action Committee had previously warned that they wouldn't allow a receiver in but now co-operated with him, and continued to work with him for about two years. No buyer was found and the receiver sold the mill to Jim Mansfield. A remnant worked with, or for, him, removing the plant and machinery up till about 1990. Mansfield went on to develop the site of the mill as a shopping centre. He did so with such an astounding disregard for planning and other regulations that the site continued to be a seat of controversy long after the 'Clondalkin Paper Mills Action Group' banner was folded away for the last time (29). The centre was valued at £8 million in 1996 and since then Mansfield sold it to Dunloe for around £10 million while Dunnes Stores, the anchor tenant, spent £7 million for the main shopping unit (30).
January 1982 was not January 1987. Despite superficial likenesses the circumstances of the two Clondalkin closures were quite different. The strikes of early 1987 were bitter but defensive, such as the Packard and B&I strikes, fighting a rearguard action. Brian Donaghy, 'Irish Times' Industrial Correspondent, wrote on the 4th March: "The disputes, now settled at Packard and Hanlons, to-days national strike by radiographers and the continuing dispute by B&I's marine officers are all what one Packard worker described ruefully as 'a new kind of strike'. They are all disputes where demands are made by the management, not by the workers, and where the strikers were hoping to limit the concession they would have to make" (31). The mill workers mounted little direct pressure on election candidates. Haughey this time was set on no deals with independents. Tony Gregory was not a factor as regards the mill (eventually abstaining in the vote for Taoiseach and allowing Haughey in). There was nothing this time to match the '82-'83 campaign for support in the trade union movement and the world at large. Austerity reigned and union leaders were promoting a 'framework agreement' that was to produce social partnership. Unemployment figures released on 9th January had increased to 250,000.
The short 1987 sit-in(s) came across as almost part of a joint-effort with the company to keep it going, to get financial backing, barely distinguishable as a badge of their commitment from the ten days they worked for nothing. Yet in the circumstances and given their history in the the mills, it cannot be said otherwise than that they were still fighting irrepressibly for their jobs.
In 1982 and 1983 Clondalkin Paper Mills provided us with a practical demonstration of how a closure can be fought. Occupation, and the creation around it it by the workers of a national industrial and political support campaign, had forced the state to buy the mill, broker its re-opening and pushed back the final closure by five years. Among the Action Committee which led that, including some who served to the bitter end of the mill, were Eugene Charles, Gerry Courtney, Paul Billings, Johnny Delaney (now deceased), Bob Gleeson, Denis Kenny, Ollie Lannery, Frank McClone, Brian Nolan, Niall Nolan, John O'Keefe, Billy Phelan, Danny Power, Myles Speight and Sean Stynes (32).
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