General Election: 27 August 1923 Clare This was the first General Election in Ireland. Michael Comyn ran for election

The 1923 Irish general election, held on August 27, was indeed the first general election in the newly established Irish Free State, following its formation on December 6, 1922, after the Irish Civil War. It aimed to elect the 4th Dáil, with 153 seats contested across 28 constituencies using proportional representation by single transferable vote. The election occurred shortly after the Civil War ended in May 1923, with many anti-Treaty Republican TDs, imprisoned or abstaining, refusing to take seats, allowing Cumann na nGaedheal to form a government despite lacking an outright majority.

In the Clare constituency, which elected four TDs, Michael Comyn, running as a Republican (anti-Treaty Sinn Féin), did not win a seat. The elected candidates were:

• Éamon de Valera (Republican, 8,701 votes, elected on first count)
• Patrick Hogan (Cumann na nGaedheal, 7,104 votes)
• Eoin MacNeill (Cumann na nGaedheal, 5,010 votes)
• Brian O’Higgins (Republican, 4,360 votes)

Comyn, a solicitor and former Sinn Féin TD for North Cork in 1921–22, stood as an anti-Treaty candidate but was not successful. Notably, Éamon de Valera, a prominent Republican leader, was arrested in Ennis on August 15, 1923, during the campaign, highlighting the tense post-Civil War atmosphere. Despite his arrest, de Valera topped the poll in Clare but did not take his seat due to his imprisonment and Republican abstentionism.

For detailed results, see ElectionsIreland.org’s Clare constituency page for first-preference votes and transfers.

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Articles Reporting on Phosphate Mines in Doolin and Noughaval

The Clare Champion obituary from October 11, 1952, directly references Michael Comyn’s discovery of phosphate deposits in Co. Clare in 1924, which were later developed. It also notes his 1950 legal action against the Attorney General, where he was awarded £20,320 by Mr. Justice Kingsmill Moore for phosphate mining rights in Co. Clare, compulsorily acquired by the State under a 1942 Emergency Powers Order. This confirms Clare Champion coverage of Comyn’s phosphate mining activities, though it does not specify the exact locations of Doolin or Noughaval in the obituary itself.

However, a detailed source from the Pegasus Caving Club provides specific information about phosphate mining in Doolin and Noughaval, directly tied to Comyn’s work:

• In 1924, Michael Comyn, described as a lawyer and amateur geologist, discovered phosphate deposits at Noughaval, 12 km east of Doolin, on the eastern edge of a shale outcrop. He extracted 50 tons for economic assessment in 1924 and another 100 tons in 1925, securing planning permission to develop a quarry at NGR R 205 964, near a stream in Noughaval. This quarry operated for a few years but closed before 1933 due to high overburden removal costs and competition from higher-quality phosphate from Doolin mines.
• Comyn later surveyed and developed a richer phosphate outcrop in Toomullin Townland, east of Doolin, extracting phosphatic shale from the Aille River bed and adjacent land. This opencast quarry, worked from outside O’Connor’s Bar upstream to Poll an Fhia, altered the river’s flow, causing it to sink into the Doolin cave system due to the removal of the impervious phosphate bed. Infrastructure from this period, including a crushing house built by Comyn, remains in the area.
• During World War II, the Irish government’s mining company, Mianrai Teoranta, further developed these phosphate deposits near Doolin, operating underground workings until 1947. The earlier opencast quarrying by Comyn had significant environmental impacts, such as exposing the Doolin Cave System.

While the Pegasus Caving Club source is not a Clare Champion article, it provides detailed historical context about Comyn’s phosphate mining in Doolin and Noughaval, corroborating the Clare Champion obituary’s mention of his phosphate discoveries. The obituary’s reference to the 1950 compensation case suggests Clare Champion reported on related legal developments, but specific articles about the Doolin or Noughaval mines are not included in the provided search results.

To find additional Clare Champion articles on the phosphate mines, you could:

• Search the Clare Champion archives for terms like “Michael Comyn phosphate mines,” “Doolin phosphate,” or “Noughaval mining” around key dates (1924–1933 for Comyn’s initial work, 1942 for the State’s acquisition, or 1950 for the compensation case).
• Check clarelibrary.ie, which hosts Clare-related historical records, including mining history in the Burren.
• Explore geological records from the Geological Survey of Ireland, which holds mine closure plans and related documents.

Summary

• Michael Comyn as Counsel for Clare County Council: No direct evidence from the Clare Champion or other sources confirms Comyn acted as counsel for Clare County Council. His legal career focused on republican cases and private practice, with no explicit mention of council representation.
• Phosphate Mines in Doolin and Noughaval: The Clare Champion (October 11, 1952) confirms Comyn’s 1924 phosphate discoveries in Co. Clare and his 1950 compensation case, but does not specify Doolin or Noughaval. Other sources detail his mining activities in these areas, including quarries at Noughaval (closed pre-1933) and Toomullin, Doolin, with environmental impacts noted.

If you’d like me to conduct a deeper search for Clare Champion articles or further details on these topics, please confirm, and I can explore real-time sources or suggest specific archival resources. Alternatively, contacting the Clare County Library or the Clare Champion directly may yield more targeted results.

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Pascal Emmanuel Gobry | EP15

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