Ivy Day in the Committee Room

by

James Joyce

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Richard Tierney, a corrupt and moneyed career politician, is the Nationalist candidate in an upcoming municipal election. He employs the canvassers in Joyce’s story. As a Poor Law Guardian, Tierney is in charge of distributing welfare to the poor, but he seems far from qualified for this duty. John Henchy calls him a two-faced “little shoeboy,” and Joe Hynes calls him “Tricky Dicky.” As these insults suggest, Tierney’s main function in the story is to illustrate a high level of corruption and moral degradation in the current Nationalist party. Readers never see Tierney, who hides out in his pub (his absence from the campaign’s front-lines shows how little he cares about politics), but Joyce gives a sense of Tierney’s arrogance and immorality through his employees’ complaints about him. The major gripe, which nearly everyone shares, is that Tierney never pays on time. It’s a complaint that damns both the insulted and the insulter: while Tierney’s lateness proves that he doesn’t care about others (a quality that no politician should have), Mat O’Connor’s constant complaints about his lateness prove that O’Connor himself is only in the campaign for a paycheck. Furthermore, Tierney is considering giving a warm welcome to Edward VII’s upcoming visit. This friendly gesture toward an English monarch would be unthinkable to most Irish Nationalists, which shows Tierney’s lack of principle. That lack of principle trickles down to all of the party’s underlings, who show themselves to be just as spineless and hypocritical as their boss. This demonstrates the rot that pervades the party from the top down.

Richard Tierney Quotes in Ivy Day in the Committee Room

The Ivy Day in the Committee Room quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Tierney or refer to Richard Tierney. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth and Political Paralysis Theme Icon
).
Ivy Day in the Committee Room Quotes

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

ROYAL EXCHANGE WARD

Mr Richard J. Tierney, P.L.G., respectfully solicits the favour of your vote and influence at the coming election in the Royal Exchange Ward.

Related Characters: Mat O’Connor, Richard Tierney
Related Symbols: Fire
Page Number: 116
Explanation and Analysis:

The working-man, said Mr Hynes, gets all kicks and no halfpence. But it’s labour produces everything. The working-man is not looking for fat jobs for his sons and nephews and cousins. The working-man is not going to drag the honour of Dublin through the mud to please a German monarch.

Related Characters: Joe Hynes (speaker), Richard Tierney, Colgan
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:
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Ivy Day in the Committee Room PDF

Richard Tierney Quotes in Ivy Day in the Committee Room

The Ivy Day in the Committee Room quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Tierney or refer to Richard Tierney. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth and Political Paralysis Theme Icon
).
Ivy Day in the Committee Room Quotes

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

ROYAL EXCHANGE WARD

Mr Richard J. Tierney, P.L.G., respectfully solicits the favour of your vote and influence at the coming election in the Royal Exchange Ward.

Related Characters: Mat O’Connor, Richard Tierney
Related Symbols: Fire
Page Number: 116
Explanation and Analysis:

The working-man, said Mr Hynes, gets all kicks and no halfpence. But it’s labour produces everything. The working-man is not looking for fat jobs for his sons and nephews and cousins. The working-man is not going to drag the honour of Dublin through the mud to please a German monarch.

Related Characters: Joe Hynes (speaker), Richard Tierney, Colgan
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis: