The Right Honorable Gerald O'Reilly was Lord Mayor of Dublin when I was
there in 1908, and he managed to look after his private business as
grocer and liquor dealer at Towns End in connection with his official
duties. He was elected to office by the nationalists and the labor
element, who control the politics not only of Dublin but of all Ireland,
and have elected his predecessors for many years. And they have been men
of the people without exception. No aristocrat, no landlord, no member
of the nobility could ever hope to become Lord Mayor of Dublin.
Mr. O'Reilly was born, reared, and educated in County Carlow, where his
father was a groceryman and liquor dealer like himself. When he became
of age he came up to Dublin, went into business on his own account and
prospered. He is not a rich man, but well to do, with a good patronage,
a good reputation, and a large influence in politics. For twenty years
he has served as a member of the common council and the board of
aldermen, where he has proved his usefulness and his right to promotion.
Mr. O'Reilly's predecessor was an actual workingman, G.P. Nanetti, a son
of an Italian artist who came to Ireland fifty years ago to engage in
his profession as a decorator. Mr. Nanetti was born in Dublin, educated
in the national schools, learned his trade as printer in the office of
that ancient and well-known paper, the _Freeman's Journal_, and was
advanced from grade to grade until he became the foreman of the
composing-room. In the meantime he went into politics, became a leader
among the workingmen, was elected to the common council and then to the
board of aldermen, and, after serving two terms as lord mayor, was
elected to parliament as the representative of the business district of
Dublin, which surrounds the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College. Before
him Timothy Harrington was lord mayor for three terms, a longer period
than any of his predecessors since the creation of the title by King
Charles I. on the twenty-ninth day of July, 1641. He, too, was a great
success in the office and was sent to parliament for the district which
includes the docks.
The Mansion House is well adapted for entertainment. The main room is a
large circular chamber, adorned with statuary, which was built
especially for the reception of George IV. when he visited Ireland. The
Oak Room is entirely sheathed, floor, ceiling, and walls, with a rich
reddish brown oak, delicately carved. Over the fireplace is a rack for
the reception of the mace and sword which are the symbols of office, and
formerly, when the lord mayor went about on official occasions, they
were carried before him, but Mr. O'Reilly and his recent predecessors
have abolished many of those interesting old ceremonies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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