The German Minister called to see me today at 12 noon, in connection with the request made by him before Christmas for sanction for the landing in Ireland of a plane carrying new personnel.² He told me that he had received instructions from his Government to inform the Irish Government that, in response to Mr. de Valera's personal request and the considerations advanced by him to the German Minister, the German Government had decided to withdraw their request. They adopted this attitude in spite of their difficulty in understanding why a matter of such ordinary routine should have such consequences. On the other hand, their acceptance of the situation in relation to the means of locomotion to be used did not change either the necessity for providing the required staff for the Legation or the intention of the German Government to provide them. The German Government are, therefore, examining at the moment the possibility of setting free German officials in the American Continent who would be suitable and of sending them to Ireland by the ordinary means of transport. The German Minister was given a specific instruction to enquire whether the Irish Government would raise any obstacles to the arrival of the new personnel in this fashion. He was instructed, furthermore, to ask for an immediate answer.

I told him that I should have to talk to my Minister before giving him a reply, but might it not be just as well to inform his Government now that the ordinary means of travelling to Ireland from the American Continent was by the Pan-American passenger line to Lisbon and thence to England by British plane.