Correspondence between President and the Governor General - Publication

1. The Minister for Justice¹ reported that at about 12.50 a.m. information had reached him that the Governor General has handed out to the three Dublin newspapers for publication the letters which had passed between him and the President. The President read to the Cabinet the letter addressed to him by the Governor General on the 9th July.²

The Cabinet approved of the action taken by the Minister for Justice in issuing instructions to the Garda Síochána as follows:-

1. To go to each of the Newspaper Offices, enquire if the correspondence had been received for publication; ask to see it; draw the attention of a responsible person to the letter dated 8th July³ from the President to the Governor General pointing out that it was declared in that letter that the communications were State documents; that the Executive Council had refused permission to publish them and that the Executive Council had formally directed the Governor General not to publish them, to caution the newspapers as to the seriousness of publishing having regard to the Official Secrets Acts and the law relating to Confidential State documents; to say that the newspapers would publish entirely at their own responsibility, but not to make any attempt either by physical action or threat of physical action to prevent publication; to be careful to place the entire responsibility on the newspapers.
2. To direct the attention of wholesale distributors of newspapers specifically to the terms of the letter of 8th July, and to tell them that anyone knowingly distributing a newspaper containing the letters would do so at his own responsibility.
3. To direct the attention of the distributors of any outside newspaper reaching Dublin which contained the correspondence to the terms of the letter of 8th July so as to have evidence available that it was distributed with knowledge of the contents.
4. To give to the Cork Examiner and to representatives in Dublin of English papers a warning similar to that given to the three Dublin morning papers.
2. The Cabinet directed the Minister for Justice to communicate again with the Police and direct them to stop any Northern Ireland newspapers containing the correspondence when same arrived at the Free State border.