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Volume 9 1948~1951

Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 314 NAI TSCH/2/2/10

Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet
'Schedule A: Aide-Mémoire'1
(GC 5/90) (Item 1) (S14528)

Dublin, 7 May 1949

  1. The Irish Government have considered the provisions of the 'Ireland Bill' which was presented to the British Parliament on the evening of the 3rd May, 1949, upon which date it was first published.
  2. It is noted that the Preamble to the Bill states one of its purposes to be 'to declare and affirm the constitutional position and territorial integrity of Northern Ireland', and that Section 1 of the Bill contains a provision declaring that 'Northern Ireland remains part of His Majesty's dominions and of the United Kingdom' and 'That in no event will Northern Ireland, or any part thereof, cease to be part of His Majesty's dominions and of the United Kingdom without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.'
  3. Immediately following upon its publication, Mr. MacBride conveyed verbally to the British Government the objections of the Irish Government and the strong resentment which this measure would arouse.
  4. The Government of Ireland now wish again to register their emphatic and solemn protest against the re-enactment by the British Parliament of legislation purporting to confirm the unjust partition of Ireland and to convey to the British Government the deep resentment which this step has evoked among the Irish people, at home and throughout the world.
  5. The British Government cannot have been unaware of the feelings of deep concern and indignation with which these provisions would be viewed by the Irish Government and people. When Press reports first suggested, early in January, that legislation of this nature might be introduced in the British Parliament, the Irish Government stated their position in the matter in the clearest and most emphatic terms in their Aide Mémoire of the 7th January, 1949, to the British Government.2 That communication, having stated the grave anxiety which the Irish Government felt at the suggestion, pointed out how completely unjustifiable such action would be and expressed the hope that 'nothing will be done by way of legislation or otherwise, which could in any way be construed as prolonging or strengthening the undemocratic anomaly whereby our country has been partitioned against the will of the overwhelming majority of the Irish people.' No reply or comment in respect of this Aide Mémoire was received by the Irish Government, notwithstanding the fact that in the meantime the urgent need for finding a solution of the problem of Partition has frequently been urged by the Irish Government, both in public statements, in informal communications with members of the British Government, as well as in the Irish Government's Aide Mémoire of 8 February, 1949, on the subject of the Atlantic Pact.3
  6. In the light of these circumstances, and the British legislation whereby Ireland was partitioned being still on the British Statute Book, the Government of Ireland can only regard the enactment of the provisions referred to as an unnecessary, provocative and gratuitous reassertion of the claim of the British Parliament to intervene in Irish Affairs.
  7. The British Government must already be familiar with the serious difficulties and grave dangers resulting from the enforced, unjust and unnatural partition of Ireland. The step which the British Government is about to take must inevitably increase enormously the existing difficulties and dangers, both internally and from the point of view of the relations between Great Britain and Ireland. For this consequence the British Government must assume full responsibility.
  8. The taking of such a step at a time when friendly co-operation between democratic nations is of such vital importance makes it even more difficult to understand the reasons which have prompted it. The importance of Anglo-Irish friendship as an element of strength and cohesion in the democratic world has been frequently stated. For their part, the Irish Government have striven to remove the last obstacles which prevented the development and strengthening of such a friendship. It was their hope that the new concept of co-operation between States of the North Atlantic would, by affording the occasion for the friendly examination of the last remaining difficulty between the two countries, provide a means for its solution. The views of the Irish Government on the matter were stated as follows in the two concluding paragraphs of their Aide Mémoire of 8 February, referred to above, viz:-

    We feel, therefore, that the wisest and most realistic approach to the question of North Atlantic security lies, so far as Ireland is concerned, in ending a situation which threatens the peace of these islands and which may, at any moment, prove a source of grave embarrassment to both Britain and Ireland. Sooner or later, the question will have to be solved. The Government of Ireland feels strongly that it is better to face the question in a realistic fashion and as a matter of urgency now, rather than to allow a situation to develop wherein a solution might be more difficult.

    The Irish Government is convinced that, far from rendering disservice to Britain, the bringing about of a solution of this question would strengthen Britain's defensive position and increase the security of the States of the Atlantic community. By offering their assistance in mediation, and by creating a situation wherein the problem could be discussed, the participating nations would help to end an undemocratic and dangerous situation, and in doing so would render an invaluable service by strengthening the internal harmony and cohesion of the community of States in the North Atlantic.

    Instead of seeking to remove the sole obstacle to Ireland's participation in the Atlantic Pact, the British Government now proposes to take a step marking a further disregard of Ireland's territorial integrity and a fresh denial of Ireland's right to national self-determination. The Government of Ireland deplores such a destructive and unfriendly attitude at a time when so much effort is being devoted to preserve fundamental rights and liberties and the democratic way of life. The fact that Ireland is a small nation debarred by her exclusion from the United Nations Organisation from other means of redress makes it all the more necessary for the Government of Ireland to reassert unequivocally the right of the Irish people to determine, democratically, of their own free will, without outside interference, their own affairs.

  9. The Government of Ireland most strongly urges that, even at this late hour, steps may be taken by the British Government on the lines indicated in the Irish Government's Aide Mémoire of the 8th February, 1949, concerning the Atlantic Pact. The Irish Government would, however, press the view that, if any such steps are to be taken, they should be taken as a matter of urgency now, rather than to allow the development of a situation fraught with further difficulties and dangers.

1 Handed by Minister for External Affairs to the British Representative on 7 May 1949.

2 See No. 228.

3 See No. 261.

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