I move the adjournment of the Dáil until 3 o'clock on Monday,
ADJOURNMENT OF THE DAIL. - THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY QUESTION.
Mr. O'HIGGINS
I wish to draw the attention of the Dáil to the anxious state of mind of some of the people living in the Northern counties at the present time. This matter has been forcibly brought to my notice by people who are near neighbours of mine who, as a matter of fact, live only a couple of miles away from me. They are commencing to think that their interests have been neglected and that the Deputies here do not wish to have the Clause of the Treaty dealing with the Boundary put into force. They think that before now some action should have been taken. I wish to say, at the outset, that I do not wish to wring from the Government any statement that they do not desire to make. If they consider that it would be embarrassing to them or hurtful to their policy that any statement should be made, then I do not ask them to take any such course. But if it is within the power of the President, or any member of the Government, to make a statement which would ease the minds of those people who live in the Six Counties, and particularly in that portion of the Six Counties which hopes to come within the scope and the authority of this Parliament, I would be glad if he would do so. There is a good deal to be said, perhaps, why a statement on this subject has not been forthcoming up to the present. To my mind, at any rate, the time was not ripe for any such statement. There is a lot of unrest and dissatisfaction amongst a large section of the people in the North of Ireland as to why this Boundary Commission has been, as they call it, "shelved." A good many statements have been made in the Northern papers, and by the Northern Premier, and it is for the purpose of getting a true statement of the facts put before the country that I bring forward this motion this evening. I understand that Sir James Craig has stated that he is not going to appoint a Commissioner to assist in settling this question. This Government must have some policy on this question, and I would like that policy to be stated here this evening, if it is possible, in order to allay the fears of a large section of people who are yearning to come in and obtain their rights under the Treaty. These people feel—and in my opinion justly feel—that time is slipping by and that their rights have not been given effect to. I, therefore, ask that the President, or some member of the Government, should make a statement on this vital matter which will have the effect of allaying the fears of a number of our countrymen in the North.
In reply to the Deputy's question I wish to state that the Government is of the opinion that the opportune moment has arrived to give effect to the remaining provisions of Article 12 of the Treaty.
I have, therefore, to announce that the Government has taken the first step in this direction.
After very long and mature consideration we have chosen Dr. Eoin MacNeill, Minister for Education as the best person to represent the Saorstát as our Nominee on the Boundary Commission. Dr. Eoin MacNeill has, I am happy to say, with great public spirit and self-sacrifice, consented to act in this most responsible and arduous capacity, and His Majesty's Government of Great Britain has been informed accordingly.
It is fitting that at this juncture I should briefly re-state the position with regard to the North-Eastern Question. It is very simple and very clear:
Under the provisions of the Treaty the Parliament of Northern Ireland had the choice between two courses. The first was that Northern Ireland should remain in the Free State, in which case it would maintain the powers conferred upon it by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and also the area allotted to it under that Act, with our willing assent. Thus in order to secure Unity by the establishment of an All-Ireland Parliament, our plenipotentiaries were ready to leave very large powers in the hands of the Northern Parliament, and to leave under its jurisdiction an area admittedly very much larger than that to which it was entitled on the basis of the wishes of the inhabitants.
Article 12 provided the second course open to the Northern Parliament. Let me remind Deputies of the terms of that most important Article. It reads as follows:
"If, before the expiration of the said month, an address is presented to His Majesty by both Houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland to that effect, the powers of the Parliament and the Government of the Irish Free Stateshall no longer extend to Northern Ireland, and the provisions of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (including those relating to the Council of Ireland) shall, so far as they relate to Northern Ireland, continue to be of full force and effect, and this instrument shall have effect subject to the necessary modifications.
Provided that if such an address is so presented a Commission consisting of three persons, one to be appointed by the Government of the Irish Free State, one to be appointed by the Government of Northern Ireland, and one who shall be Chairman, to be appointed by the British Government, shall determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions, the boundaries between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland, and for the purposes of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, and of this instrument, the Boundary of Northern Ireland shall be such as may be determined by this Commission."
On the 7th December last, as we know, the Northern Parliament exercised the undoubted right given it under the first part of this Article of the Treaty and voted itself out of the jurisdiction of Saorstát Eireann.
This action of theirs has made inevitable and imperative the carrying out of the remaining provisions of that Article, viz., the establishment of the Boundary Commission.
Until that Commission reaches a decision in conformity with the terms of reference already quoted, it is plain to every man that it is impossible to say what the area and boundary of the future Northern Ireland, that sprung as it were from the first part of this Article, will be.
It is, therefore, as I have said, essential; —essential for all parties, for ourselves, for Great Britain, and for Northern Ireland to have the new and actual proportions of the latter area definitely and justly established.
It is unnecessary to recall, except in the barest outline, the reasons for this provision, the obvious justice of which was very frankly admitted by the British Signatories to the Treaty. I need only say that the boundary of Northern Ireland was drawn by the Act of 1920 in a quite arbitrary fashion, not in accordance with the ascertained will of the people concerned, but in such a way as to give a section of this people an extent of territory wholly out of proportion to their local majority. That territory includes two whole counties—Tyrone and Fermanagh— in which the majority of the population desire union with the rest of Ireland, and other areas, such as parts of Armagh and Down, contiguous to the Free State, the majority of whose inhabitants also desire to be Free State citizens. The justice of revising the boundary, in such a way as to meet the wishes of the maximum possible number of the inhabitants, and to leave as few discontented citizens as possible on each side of the border, will we believe be evident to all the world. As said before, our plenipotentiaries were prepared, in the interests of unity, to leave the boundary of Northern Ireland as it stands. But since the North-East has decided for the present against unity there can be no justice in maintaining a boundary which runs so counter to the desires of large masses of people. Any division of the country we hold to be deplorable and against the real interests of both sections. We hope and believe that it will be merely temporary. But while there has to be division we demand that it should be division on equitable lines and as little hurtful as possible.
I wish to repeat that this demand of ours for a redrawing of the boundary is not made in any spirit of hostility towards our Northern fellow-countrymen. We desire peace and harmony with them, and we believe that peace and good-feeling are essential for all parts of the country. But we cannot possibly ignore the discontent and dissatisfaction of those supporters of the Free State in the North who are kept against their will and wish out of the jurisdiction of the State to which they desire to belong. We believe that the removal, so far as is possible, of that reason for discontent is necessary in the interests of harmony, and that a satisfactory settlement of this question is one means of creating a better feeling between the inhabitants of all parts of the country.
The Dáil adjourned at 4.15 to 3 o'clock on Monday.