Blazing Tar Barrels & Standing Orders - Donal Murphy PRICE: IRP£ 5.99 pbk PUBLISHER: Relay Publications ‘99

This first in-depth account of the working of a county's local authorities in their formative period provides significant social history with nuggets of human interest.

The early chapters proced from the English and Ulster Unionist genesis of local government reform through the passage of the new constitution of 1898, to the nuanced political manoeuvers (including what the author calls "presbytery power") in nomination and election battles by the grandsons of the democratic power brokers of the 1830s, the labour fringe in the five rural districts-cum-poor law unions, and the cross-community Trade and Labour Association in Nenagh, Thurles and Templemore towns.