FROM THE ARCHIVES: TDs’ pay is a perennial issue. In 1944 they received £480 a year, exempt from income tax, when Independent deputy James Dillon put down a motion calling for a committee to set expenses for them instead of a salary. The debate provided this front page report.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Southern Unionists were the main losers in the move towards independence, abandoned by Northern unionists, targeted by the IRA in the War of Independence and Civil War, and facing an uncertain future under the new order. Under the Treaty, the Free State was responsible for compensation for injuries and damage after the Truce but quickly cut back on payments, leaving the British government to pick up the balance for some 3,300 claimants. It finally increased its compensation fund to £1 million in 1928, as this editorial welcomed.