Eamon de Valera, "comely maidens, dancing at the crossroads".

[Skeptic]

CONVICTED fraudster Elio Malocco is using the words of his former wife's grandfather, Eamon de Valera, by making a film called Dancing At The Crossroads.

The title for the film comes from de Valera's speech about his vision for Irish women in the future - "comely maidens dancing at the crossroads".

I, for one, would be in favour of an Ireland with comely maidens dancing at the crossroads; it sure would beat the Ireland with ugly scumbags drinking cider at the crossroads that de Valera's political successors have brought into existence.

There is an oft quoted line "comely maidens dancing at the crossroads", used in Ireland to refer to an outdated view of Ireland's past. It is supposed to have been said by Eamon de Valera, the former Irish prime minister and later President. But some people vehemently state that 'Dev' never said these words. Is there any evidence that he said this or anything similar.

[Billy Beccles]

If you ferret around in the RTE archives you will find under the rubric "The Ireland That We Dreamed Of" that Dev spoke of

...a land whose countryside would be...joyous...with the romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths and the laughter of happy maidens...

But no comeliness and no dancing at the crossroads.

A bit off topic I suppose, but

Do any of y'all have the problem I do. I constantly get the words comely and homely mixed up. So I envisioned ugly girls jumping up and down on street corners at first...

[Silkenray]

And then Homely has two different meanings depending on where you live.

In the US it means ugly or plain.
In the UK it means comfy and charming, or in terms of a woman one who is good at keeping house.