There are two questions addressed to me, A Chinn Comhairle, as follows:—
(1) Chun an Uachtarain (To the President):—
(a) To ask the President whether the Constitution of the proposed Free State is to be a Constitution for all Ireland, and whether the Belfast Parliament is to have the option of voting itself out of the Free State within a month after it has seen the Constitution, and since in accordance with paragraph (c) of the Agreement made at the Ard Fheis the Constitution of the Free State in its final form shall be presented to the Irish people at the same time as the Articles of Agreement;
Are we therefore to conclude
(1) That there will be no elections on the question of the Treaty in Ireland till after the Belfast Parliament has given its decision.
(2) That the elections when held will be for all Ireland thus refusing to legalise partition, or
(3) Will the all Ireland Constitution be altered in the event of an adverse vote by the Belfast Parliament before being submitted to the electors of the 26 counties in its final form?—Máire nic Shuibhne.
(b) To ask the President
(1) Whether by agreeing to alter the date from which the month of option granted to the Belfast Area was to run, the President and Mr. Michael Collins have not themselves consented to a breach of the Articles of Agreement and whether they have not by their act given their sanction to partition?
(2) Whether the members of the Delegation were parties to the Agreement that the Resolution, voting the Belfast area out of the proposed Free State should be passed by both Houses of the Belfast Parliament instead of being submitted to a plebiscite or an election for the whole area.—Máire Nic Suibhne.
The answers are:—1 (a) The whole of Ireland is comprised in Saorstát Éireann. Therefore the Constitution of the Saorstát must be a Constitution for all Ireland. (b) As provided by Articles 18 and 19 of the Ex-President's draft of a proposed Treaty of Association between Ireland and the British Commonwealth (commonly called "Document No. 2") which articles will also be found in the Treaty (being Articles 11 and 12 thereof) the Belfast Parliament has a limited option of electing that the powers of the Parliament and Government of Ireland shall no longer extend to the area (to be determined by the Boundary Commission) within the jurisdiction of the Belfast Parliament. The period within which that option may be exercised is specified and is identical, both in Document No. 2 and the Treaty. It is not correctly stated in the question. (c) The suggested conclusion (a) would be a perverse conclusion arrived at by disregarding the documents. As to proposed conclusion (b), the Ex-President proposed in Document No. 2 (Article 18, which is now Article 11 of the Treaty) that no elections shall take place for the constituencies of the six north-eastern counties until after the expiry of the period for exercising the option, unless a resolution is passed by both Houses of the Belfast Parliament in favour of holding such elections. If such a resolution as stipulated for by the ex-President should be passed, the election will be for all Ireland. (e) There is no ground for the proposed conclusion (a) That any alteration will be made in the Constitution—“in the event of an adverse vote by the Belfast Parliament.” (f).—2 (a) The assumption as to an agreement in the first part of the question being erroneous (the date has not been altered), the answer to the second part of the question is “no.” As Miss MacSwiney can see if she will read the Treaty, all the Plenipotentiaries are Signatories to the Articles of Agreement. (b) The proposal of the ex-President (Article 18 of Document No. 2) was adopted and embodied in Article 11 of the Treaty which speaks for itself.
