Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

However, while all this work is undoubtedly useful and necessary, is it really that urgent? Why exactly are we spending our time repealing laws from 90 years ago, Acts that are effectively dead, when there are laws today affecting people's lives that need repealed? Laws that need to be dealt with are being pushed down the road for six months here and eight months there. Why is it that 12-month civic committees are being set up to look at laws, while we repeal redundant laws?

I have a concern about who actually carried out this extensive body of work. In 2015, the most recent round of this historical project, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform revealed to us that the State was using people off JobBridge to do the work. Will the Minister of State clarify if the same system was used to fill these positions? I have this concern not only because JobBridge was a scandalous scheme whereby workers were exploited by doing a day's work for little over €3 an hour, but also because JobBridge sold itself as an avenue to enter a business and earn oneself a long-term job. However, on this occasion there was not even a carrot and stick for a sustainable, stable long-term job on offer at the end. Overall, this was a difficult and onerous job and it should have paid a fair wage to those who were qualified to do the work.

The Official Report during the passage of the Spanish Civil War (Non-Intervention) Act 1937 makes for fascinating reading. The Act set out the international obligations of Saorstát Éireann regarding the civil war waged in Spain and prohibited citizens of Saorstát Éireann from participating in that war. The then Deputy, Patrick Belton, the famously anti-communist leader of the Irish Christian Front and who was politically close to Michael Collins, spoke at length on Second Stage, berating the then Government for being allegedly sympathetic to the "Red Government of Spain", declaring that "99.9 per cent. of the Irish people stand for the recognition of General Franco, and there should be no equivocation about it." Although a vocal and forthright supporter of Franco's fascism, he did not support Eoin O'Duffy's Irish brigade participating in anti-communist fighting in the Spanish Civil War, believing its place was better in Ireland to combat any domestic sympathies for socialism or left-wing politics. He was at pains to point out, however, that he believed that a law preventing Irish Catholics from fighting for Franco was worse than the penal days when Irish Catholics were not prevented from joining European armies to fight for their religion.

The then Deputy, James Dillon, at the time favoured a policy of non-intervention in Spain because he and his Fine Gael colleagues believed that policy would in the long term contribute to the advantage of General Franco and the Burgos Government. Interestingly, there were lengthy and substantial attempts during the Dáil debate to defend General Franco from accusations of being a fascist, deeming that to be a slur simply put about by the godless communists.

These bear thought-provoking parallels to some of the defences of the US President-elect Donald Trump's policies in some mainstream media outlets now. They would have us believe that his calls for the indiscriminate deportation of minority communities are simply new, sensible and strategic immigration controls, and that accusations of racism are simply lefty histrionics. The Irish media of the 1930s was similarly pro-Franco. The year before the passing of that Act in 1936, The Timesjudged the Spanish Civil War as being irrelevant to modern Europe. Clearly, this was incorrect given that it is recognised by many as the beginning of a war against fascism within Europe, leaving open to severe criticism the many states which stood aside while a group of fascists overthrew an elected government.

That said, it was stated during the debate on the Spanish Civil War (Non-Intervention) Act 1937 that were Irish people to go and fight in Spain, the majority would have been on the Franco side. Despite the high regard in which we hold the members of the Irish International Brigade of the Connolly Column these days, this is actually correct. That is not to say that, while we are in the business of repealing the Spanish Civil War (Non-Intervention) Act 1937, that we cannot use the opportunity to commend the small number of left-wing republicans and communists who decided to fight fascism in Spain, despite Dáil Members at the time depicting a narrative of a holy war being fought to protect Catholicism from eminent destruction and the evils of the communism. I want to put on the record of the House the six heroic men from Limerick who fought on the republican side in Spain: Gerard Doyle, Joe Ryan, Emmett Ryan, Paddy Brady, Frank Ryan and Jim Woulfe.

It was believed the Act would aid Franco in the long term. The political and religious establishment's fear was that if Franco failed, Ireland would be facing a similar conflict within a decade and that left-wing politics, even secular inclinations, must be denounced at every opportunity. As it transpired, this did not happen. While Ireland's religious community did not manifest in the same manner in which it did in Spain, we still witness the strong influence of Catholicism on our society in our schools, our hospitals and our non-governmental sector. It is for this reason that it is important to note and discuss the context in which Acts were passed, such as the Spanish Civil War (Non-Intervention) Act 1937.

Had the fight against Franco succeeded, the course of the 20th century could have unfolded in a far more positive way. Those who fought fascism were not only against something, they fought for liberty and a society without inequality and wars. The renowned anti-fascist Buenaventura Durruti summed this up in his oft quoted statement:

We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing in this minute.

There are other Acts which need to be repealed. My Dáil colleagues will address those on Committee Stage.