My dear Ambassador,
It is too bad about the Villa Spada. If it were not for the difficulty mentioned in our telegram, we could, I think, get authority to make an offer of $150,000. But the difficulty which McElligott puts forward is a formidable one. We would not want to take over the twenty million lire for Legation purposes, and there is really no other way in which they could be used.
Unless we can find some solution for this difficulty - and, at the moment, we cannot see any - I wonder whether the best thing would not be to look around for some other place. It will be hard to get one as suitable as the Villa Spada, but, from the point of view of the time factor which is so important to you, that would seem to be the best course.
We have asked the Department of Finance to give us £600 in Swiss francs for your car, on the understanding that the sum will be repaid over a period of three years. Seán Moynihan has been out of the office, and no one was prepared to give us a decision in his absence. He is due back on Monday and we are promised a prompt answer then.
I fully realise how annoying these delays must be to you. But the fault is with the official machine and not with us. The purchase of a house for £50,000, and the payment of the price in American dollars, was a pretty formidable proposition to have to put to Departments here. If we had pressed for an immediate decision on it, I am sure the decision would have been adverse. Unfortunately, we failed to get a favourable decision in the end, but I think we carried the thing further than anyone could have thought possible in the beginning. We would have got a favourable decision if it had not been for the difficulty about the disposal of the lire.
Of course, in matters of this kind, we undoubtedly work under great handicaps in this Department. If we had someone like the Tánaiste, who seems to take a personal interest in establishment questions in his Department, we could get favourable decisions quickly. As it is, we have to proceed by a slow process of argument and negotiation, seeing people and trying to enlist their personal interest and sympathy. It is not that the Taoiseach was not interested in the Villa Spada. He was. But his view always is that we must convince the Departments concerned by argument. With the general attitude towards our Department which prevails here, that is a slow and uphill business.
The question of the advance for the cars is a good illustration. I think the case made is irrefutable and that there is a clear distinction between the present case and the case of people in countries in which motor cars and instalment-buying facilities are easily available. But to get the Department of Finance to depart from established practices and to do something which has not been done in previous cases is always a heart-breaking task.
When there are these delays, therefore, it is not because we in the Department are apathetic. The fault is in the official machine and in the traditional attitude towards financial expenditure by this Department. As an illustration of the Taoiseach's attitude, I should mention that I spoke to him recently about Bob's letter saying that, unless he got an increase in his Representation Allowance, he would not be prepared to stay in the Service when he reaches 65. I suggested to the Taoiseach that he might mention the matter to the Minister for Finance. He was quite disinclined to do so. He did not see why the matter should not be put up to the Department of Finance and dealt with in the ordinary way.
[matter omitted]
We have our Estimates through the Dáil. The Official Reports will probably be with you by now. The debate on our Vote was, as usual, a rather disappointing affair, mainly concerned with the question of the Republic and the Commonwealth. Deputy Dillon raised again the question of the canned asparagus which we served at an official dinner in the Castle some years before the war!1
David Gray is back. We thought we detected a note of triumph in his statement to the papers on his arrival at Rineanna. He is obviously working on new instructions directing him to remove 'the sources of friction between Ireland and the United States arising out of the recent war'. He used the same phrase to the Taoiseach and to me. He is pressing us, however, for early replies to the Allied Notes about Axis assets and former German officials and agents.2
The Government was delighted with the results of the Cork election, which, for the time being, has taken the wind out of the sails of the Left Wing Opposition movement.3 The Government majority was larger than anyone anticipated, and the fact that Tom Barry4 lost his deposit is an indication that the new movement has made little progress in the Cork area at any rate.
Leo [McCauley] is in Brussels at the moment attending the Conference of the International Broadcasting Union, and Michael [Rynne], who has been at Seattle, is expected back next week. Leo will be going away again for negotiations in London about Unemployment Insurance. It is becoming more and more obvious that our staff establishment is much below our requirements. Even the Taoiseach is starting to feel that.
We are going into the question of the Croatian students about which you wired us. We shall have to get the Archbishop to take an interest in that question, because we recently had a letter from Dr. Conway stating that the staff and accommodation resources of the College are so overtaxed that they could not take any part in any scheme for the reception of Polish or other students. Cork and Galway may be more helpful, but I recently had a letter from Alfred O'Rahilly saying that, while he could take a few students, he could not do anything in the way of providing scholarships or waiving fees, because, financially, his College is very hard hit. I hope the Archbishop will take the matter up himself and get the Hierarchy to put up a fund for the Croatian students in view of the Vatican's interest in them.
We have had a very bad time here within recent weeks, what with the Estimates, absences, and the fact that Leo and Con [Cremin] are still more or less new to the Department. Once the Dáil rises, things may be a bit easier. I hope to be able to get in some leave in August.
