District 18 Governor, Ian D. McIntyre from Scotland, presented charter #2601 to Paddy Cunningham, President of Dublin Toastmasters club, at a Charter Dinner in the Royal Hibernian Hotel, attended by over 70 guests, on 12th April, 1958. Among the guests were the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor James Carroll and the American Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Scott McLeod. The Dublin club thus became the first club chartered in Ireland.
This is how the story unfolded...
Paddy Cunningham, the founding father of the Dublin #2601 club, has described how it came about in his book, “Toastmasters.... A Difficult Pregnancy”. Paddy and his friends George Coughlan and Joe Farrell banded together and launched the Dublin Speakers Club (no connection with Toastmasters), which met weekly. This club lasted only twelve months, or so, but revealed a widespread interest in the art of public speaking. In 1953, an unsigned letter appeared in the Evening Mail bemoaning the fact that Ireland, home of some world famous orators ,such as Edmund Burke, had not even one club to train people in this sought after art. He was quickly identified as Ernest Bray, a member of Toastmasters Club 111 from San Pedro, California. Paddy met up with him while Mr Bray was on his way to the airport to return home. At that brief meeting the seed of setting up a toastmasters club was sown.
In 1955 and 1956, Paddy was invited to present a Public Speaking course in Rathmines High School of Commerce. Then Paddy, in 1957, remembered his conversation with Ernest Bray, found some details Ernest had left him and made contact with WHQ in California and was forwarded the required materials to form a club. An organising committee was immediately formed consisting of the under mentioned and held its first meeting in Paddy’s home, Meath House, Stillorgan, on Saturday May 25th. After a further planning meeting on June 20th, the first regular meeting took place in the now defunct Grosvenor Hotel, Westland Row. This meeting approved the name Dublin Toastmasters Club and the following officers.
President: P.D. Cunningham; Educational V.P. John J. Doran; Administrative V.P. Lauri W. Duffy;
Sgt at Arms: Eamonn V. Cleary; Treasurer: Padraic P. English; Secretary: Louis S. Byrne
However, a surprise was in store. Unaware that women were not allowed to be members of a toastmasters club, imagine the shock when a letter from Governor, Ian D. McIntyre, confirming his attendance at the charter celebrations, contained the following paragraph:
“The Charter Dinner is usually treated as a social occasion, distinct from any regular meetings; some clubs encourage Members to bring along friends (in some instances, including the ladies).”
An Extraordinary General Meeting was immediately called and a decision made to fight this perceived discrimination tooth and nail. After much communications with TI etc, a compromise was worked out allowing women to attend and participate in meetings as invitees. This remained the case till 1973, when women worldwide were admitted as full members of TI.
