asked the President if, having regard to the fact that certain signatories of the Anglo-Irish Treaty have expressed their opinion as to the sense in which Article 12 of that instrument should be interpreted, and to the undertaking by the late President Griffith during the Treaty debates, that all documents relative to the making of the Treaty should be published, and to the possibility that these documents will need to be brought under the notice of the Chairman of the Boundary Commission, he will now cause all these documents to be published.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - PUBLICATION OF TREATY DOCUMENTS.
None of the documents referred to could with propriety be brought under the notice of the Chairman of the Boundary Commission, the terms of reference of which are laid down in Article 12.
With the exception of memoranda officially exchanged between the delegations, all the other documents are Cabinet documents, and I am not prepared to violate Cabinet confidences by publishing them.
The memoranda exchanged between the delegations are confidential as between the Governments. They can be published with the consent of the British Government, but I have had them examined, and they contain nothing relevant to the present issue.
Arising out of that answer, and having regard to the fact that President Griffith did give an undertaking that he would seek permission from the British Government for the publication of all such documents, will the President be disposed now to consider a renewal of that request, or to make it with a view to such publication?
There were documents other than those which are referred to by the Deputy. There are the inter - Governmental communications; there are communications from the plenipotentiaries and answers from what remained of the Government in this country to the plenipotentiaries. Partial publication would not give a true picture of the whole circumstances, and, in consequence, I do not think that it is wise to publish one set of documents.
Arising out of that answer, having regard to the fact that a certain Deputy of this House who has not taken his seat has declared his intention of publishing these documents, does not the President think that such publication would proceed with much more propriety and dignity from the President and the Government than from a person not a member of the House?
No, sir, I do not, and I think it is on record that there is a statement by the particular person referred to by Deputy Figgis objecting to disclosure of documents.