I move:—
That a sum, not exceeding £34,999, be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1925, to pay the salaries, and expenses of the Ministry of External Affairs.
It will be seen that this Vote covers activities under three heads:—Head-quarters' External Affairs; Representatives abroad, and Publicity Department. It will be seen also that this Vote represents a considerable reduction on last year, particularly when you notice that it now includes sums of money which last year were put under the heading "Home Affairs" and "Public Works and Buildings."
Perhaps I had better say a few words, beginning with Publicity and ending with Headquarters' External Affairs. The Publicity Department has decreased its expenditure by, roughly, one-half. This work falls into two classes. One activity of it might be described as a Public Record Office. It is necessary for this Government, as for every other Government, to be informed as to what is happening in the world, what is being stated in the Press of the world, and in other periodical publications; and for that reason, instead of each Department in the Government having such a Record Office it is found more efficient and more economical to concentrate that matter in one office. The work there, then, is to note the Press and other publications of various countries in the world, and to call the attention of each Ministry to such information as may be likely to interest them, and to keep a record and to keep files of any cases of important publications, and to keep a general record of all such matters as may either now or at any time in the future be required to be referred to. Apart from that we require to have some machinery for conveying information or for rectifying misinformation. It must be remembered that practically every country does this; and most countries are much better situated for doing it than we are. To begin with, we are a new country and an unknown quantity in the world. Ireland is not only an unknown quantity in a neutral form, but in a negative form. We have a definitely anti-Irish Press, particularly in the greatest news distribution centre in the world, namely, London; and we have recognised the fact that for the sake of our commercial relations, and for the sake of our general good name in the world we do require not to be misled. Every country has such a Department, but other countries have an advantage that we have not got, and it is this: that the Press of other countries is usually supplied with a certain number of representatives in foreign countries; and the usual system is that the foreign representatives of newspapers who are away from their own country usually get in touch with the political representation in that country, and those journalists act as a channel for information and for correct information concerning their own country in the foreign countries in which they are living. Our Irish Press does not indulge in such a foreign news service. I think it has to be generally recognised that our Irish Press depends almost to an exclusive degree upon the London News Agencies. Therefore it is necessary to maintain this Department for some time to come at any rate.
In the early days of our existence this Department had another activity, namely, what we may call pro-State propaganda in this country. That was a very difficult situation to be faced with, because there was always the question as to whether the information which we put out could be considered as pro-State, or whether it might not be regarded as pro any one shade of opinion in the country. As far as I was concerned, I endeavoured, when we were doing such work, to confine the activities of that Department to the narrowest limits of pro-State propaganda; but I admit that there was very often considerable doubt as to where the pro-State began or ended and where the pro-Party began. Apart from that, there are certain forms of advertisements which every Government has to indulge in. For instance, during the last year we had to advertise the National Loan. The publicity work of that was done by this Department. We had also to conduct a certain amount of publicity work for recruitment for the army.
Now we come to the representatives abroad. You will see here that we have a certain number of representatives abroad. One office has been closed during the period of last year. It was closed owing to resignation and owing to the fact that at the time the resignation took place we were considering whether that office was well situated in Berlin or whether, with the view of promoting trade between Ireland and Germany, it would not be better situated in another city. The re-establishment of the German office is being considered by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and by our Ministry, but so far we have not re-established that office.
Generally speaking, these foreign offices must be considered as preparing the ground rather than doing anything particular, although they have succeeded in doing very good work. They procure and have procured a very considerable amount of valuable information concerning markets in districts for things produced in the Saorstát, and that information has led to a decided improvement in our exports to these countries. During the first four months of this year, approximately, the value of the direct exports from this country —I emphasise the word "direct"—to the United States of America was £87,549; to Belgium, £48,985; to France, £18,425; to Holland, £6,314. These representatives provide our manufacturers with information which has enabled them to procure materials from these countries at lower costs than might otherwise have been incurred. But, actually, the work of these representatives is to prepare the ground. It is very difficult to procure trade at the present moment owing to the instability of the foreign exchanges. I do not need to repeat again here that there is one big industry here; I will not mention the percentage it represents. It is certainly the overwhelming industry in this country.
There is that fact. And then we have the other fact, that we have not only one overwhelming industry, but we have practically only one market. For the future well-being of this country it is undoubtedly necessary that we should be looking round and endeavouring to find new markets for our goods and endeavouring to build up trade with a more general distribution than it has at present. I need only point out, or suggest to the imagination of Deputies, what would have been the position of this country, for instance, if foot-and-mouth disease took a serious hold here, or if that disease took such a serious hold in England as to cut off our cattle trade with England. There is no doubt about it that it is necessary for us to do what we can to explore possible new markets for our trade. These representatives abroad are doing that. They have succeeded to a certain extent, and I recognise myself that we cannot expect, for the time being, to build up any large new trade until such time as the world is generally more stabilished than it is at present.
Apart from that work, we have two offices in America. We have an office in Washington and an office in New York. I pointed out that we had a considerable trade with America. Most of our communications with America are with the city of New York. We have a large Irish population there, and, unfortunately, it has happened so far, and, I am afraid, it will continue for some time, that a large number of our people emigrate to the United States. We have considerable interests as a State, and our nationals have considerable interests in the United States. We have, therefore, as I say, two offices there. I calculate that within this next year our American representation will possibly be a source of revenue to the Government.
We have also taken a step which has not hitherto been taken by any State in the British Commonwealth, other than by Great Britain. That is to say, we have advanced to a large extent towards having a fully accredited Minister Plenipotentiary representing us in Washington. He is not actually established there, but the American Government have officially notified us that they will gladly receive a Minister Plenipotentiary from us. We have now gone to the next stage of asking them for what is known as the agrément for the individual. When that agrément is received the Minister Plenipotentiary will be established in Washington. That, as Deputies are aware, will be the first case of any State in the British Commonwealth, other than Great Britain, having a direct representative fully accredited. It is a tangible interpretation of the meaning of our present status. It means that we, as a sovereign State, speak directly to other sovereign States through our own fully-accredited Plenipotentiary.
From Monday next our office in New York shall issue visas to travellers coming from the port of New York whose first port on disembarkation will be in the Saorstát. It is impossible for me to say exactly what revenue that will mean, but when Deputies realise that the cost of a visa for each visitor is 10 dollars, roughly something like £2 5s., it is only a matter of multiplying £2 5s. by the number of people who will come direct from New York to see that the probability is that it will be a source of fairly considerable revenue, and, as I hope, will more than pay for the cost of our representation in America. Also during the last year we have begun to issue Irish passports, which will also be a source of revenue. We calculate we will make something from £10,000 to £12,000 in revenue out of passports.
The last year has seen a good deal of development with regard to this Department. After the signing of the Treaty, owing to the conditions of things here, it seemed almost inevitable that the status that we received under the Treaty must be diminished to some extent owing to our own internal trouble. At the present day that status is not diminished. If not enlarged, its ambit has been made clear. That is due to the fact that we have become members of the League of Nations; that the American Government has agreed to accept a Minister Plenipotentiary from us; that our people in travelling abroad now travel on Irish passports; that American citizens travelling to the Saorstát from Monday next shall get their visas from the Irish representative—the Irish visa—and a number of other things which possibly will transpire during the criticism of this Estimate.