The Battle of Baltinglass
The name by which a cause célèbre of 1950 was known in the Irish media. The dispute was caused by the action of a parish-pump politician, James Everett (1890-1967) labour T.D. for Wicklow. Everett was appointed minister for Posts and Telegraphs in the inter-party government that took office in 1948. In 1950, ignoring the rights of the incumbent family, the Cookes, he appointed one of his own supporters, Michael Farrell, as postmaster of the sub-post office in the village of Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow. The Cooke family protested, and many politicians were appalled by such marked jobbery. But after Labour's coalition partners, Clann Na Poblacht, whose election plans included opposition to corruption failed to demand justice from Everett, it was the people of Baltinglass themselves who took up cudgels in the Battle of Baltinglass. They arranged to boycott the general store that Michael Farrell also owned in the village and the following year 1951 Farrell resigned his position as postmaster. An anonymous contemporary balled describes the battle...
"There were bremagums and stem-guns and whippet tanks galore, As the battle raged up and down from pub to gen'ral store"
Taken from Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable. Sean McMahon & Jo O'Donoghue P.59. See how it was debated in the Dail at the link below
http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0123/D.0123.195012070087.html