¹ Formerly this file was numbered 'S117' in the Secretary's File Series, but was renumbered and reduced in security classification by the Department of External Affairs as 217/29.

² Due to the outbreak of the Second World War Kiernan did not take up his appointment in Berlin. A 1953 investigation in the Department of External Affairs into the question of Kiernan's appointment found that the Department's papers on the subject did not disclose 'what actually happened subsequent to the receipt of the Berlin Legation's cable and minute of 23rd August 1939' (NAI DFA 217/29, minute, Gallagher to Lennon, 4 July 1953). It seems that because of the outbreak of war Dublin decided not to pursue the question of Kiernan's credentials with London. Under the terms of the External Relations Act (1936) Kiernan's credentials had to be signed by the British Monarch. Michael Rynne, the Legal Adviser at External Affairs, concluded: 'I am satisfied that we never approached the King on this matter at all' (NAI DFA 217/29, minute Rynne to O'Riordan, 14 July 1953). Frederick Boland had earlier written to John Dulanty: 'There was, of course, the question of the Letter of Credence but the difficulty was on our side, not on Hitler's! The German Government of the time would probably have been glad to receive an Irish Minister with any kind of Letter of Credence at all' (NAI DFA 217/29, letter Boland to Dulanty, 4 June 1948).