The next questions are addressed to me. There are five or six of them. The first question is by Mr. Art O'Connor:
"Aire um Gnothai Coigcriche (Minister for Foreign Affairs). To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether it was by arrangement with him that the Minister for Education, Dáil Eireann, and the Speaker of Dáil Eireann called upon Monsieur Poincairé, Prime Minister of the French Government, during their recent visit to Paris?"
Without accepting the statement of facts as accurate, the answer is no. But I think it will be generally agreed that it is deplorable to make a contentious matter of the signal courtesy shown by the Premier of France to the representative Irishmen who called upon him—a courtesy we all appreciate. The next question is by Deputy A. O'Connor:
"To ask Minister for Foreign Affairs if he can tell the House whether it was in his capacity as Speaker of Dáil Eireann or any other capacity that Mr. Eoin MacNeill recently paid a formal visit to Monsieur Poincairé, Prime Minister of French Government, during Mr. MacNeill's recent visit to Paris?"
The answer is—I understand Mr. Eoin MacNeill paid no visit to the French Premier in his capacity as Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Eireann. I will leave Miss MacSwiney's question to the end and answer the others first. Madame Markievicz:
"To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if it was by his instructions that Mr. MacWhite, Propaganda Agent of the Republic in Geneva, recently called, with the Minister for Education and the Speaker of Dáil Éireann, upon Monsieur Poincairé, Prime Minister of French Government in Paris?"
The answer to that is, without accepting the statement of facts as accurate, no. The next is by Art O'Connor:
"To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he approves of the action of Mr. MacWhite, Agent for the Republic in Geneva, in calling, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Speaker of Dáil Eireann, upon Monsieur Poincairé, Prime Minister of the French Government in Paris, and, if not, what action he has taken or proposes to take in the matter?"
The answer is that Mr. MacWhite did not call upon Monsieur Poincairé, the Prime Minister of France, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Speaker of Dáil Eireann. Art O'Connor:
"To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has received reports from the Minister for Education or the Speaker of Dáil Eireann with regard to the recent visit to Monsieur Poincairé, Prime Minister for French Government, and, if so, will he communicate to Dáil Eireann the nature of the reports?"
I have not received any reports; and now I turn to another subject. There are two questions about another matter, one from Miss MacSwiney, and one from Madame Markievicz. The first is from Máire nic Shuibhne. It is:
‘To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he can give an undertaking to An Dáil that he will not dismiss from his Department any servants of the Republic for political reasons, nor in any way hamper their activities on behalf of the Republic to the service of which they pledged themselves?"
The other question is from Madame Markievicz:
"To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs what instructions, if any, were issued by him calculated to restrain the Republican activities of representatives?"
Now, I want to answer these two questions fully so that the House may be in a position to understand. No such instructions as suggested were issued by me. But, on the contrary, I issued instructions designed to direct the activity of our representatives towards taking every advantage of the great improvement in our foreign relations since the signing of the Treaty with England, dissipating the qualms of those abroad who were formally afraid to meet our representatives —and to this end I issued a memorandum of instructions to all our representatives abroad. I think it is right that the House should know of the terms of these instructions since the matter has been raised. The memorandum is dated the 25th January, 1922, and reads as follows—it goes as an official memorandum from the Foreign Office to our representatives abroad:
"While the policy of the new Government of the Republic is friendly to the Provisional Government set up under the Treaty with England, this Government has undertaken the duty of maintaining the existing Republic, and the efficiency of its machinery until the Irish people shall have determined whether or not to accept the proposed Irish Free State. Moreover, if, in the meantime, the British Government should fail to carry out its engagements, Ireland must be in a position to resume the struggle without delay. The Irish representatives abroad will continue to represent the Government of the Irish Republic, and that Government alone, but their position will be modified in three respects: (a) Propaganda in regard to an England which has abandoned savagery in Ireland and has signed, and is now being put to the test of working out, a Treaty of peace, approved by Dáil Eireann, must be consistent with the situation thus created, so long as the British Government faithfully observes its compact. (b) As national unity is now broken by the emergence of two political parties in the Republican State, members of the diplomatic service will be under the obligation of reflecting faithfully the policy of the Government, whatever their personal opinions on party politics. It will be their duty to refrain from propaganda either for or against the Treaty. (c) The signing of the Treaty and its approval by Dáil Eireann, have had the effect of opening everywhere many portals formerly closed to us through fear of England. It should, therefore, be possible immediately to widen the circle of Irish influence on the continent, and develop relations, political, diplomatic, intellectual, economic and social to a very much greater extent than anything that has hitherto been attempted. Our representatives abroad will do everything possible to take advantage of present conditions to this end. The publication of the Bulletin issued abroad should be continued. It is realised that the editor of the Bulletin will have more difficulty under present circumstances in making his material interesting, and the Bulletin may, where necessary, be issued at less frequent intervals. But the Publicity Department has been instructed to supplement the information contained in the newspapers by special ‘copy’ in order that the reputation which the Bulletins generally have acquired may be the more easily maintained.”
I take it that everybody will recognise that that is a fair set of instructions to give to foreign representatives under the present circumstances, and particularly as the rule as to Civil Servants or Diplomatic Servants of the Government taking any part in Party politics is a universal rule that must be enforced now in Ireland as in everywhere else.