I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £8,497 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1935, chun Deontais-i-gCabhair do Choistaisí Chumann na Náisiún agus chun Costaisí eile mar gheall air sin.
That a sum not exceeding £8,497 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, 1935, for a Grant-in-Aid of the Expenses of the League of Nations and for other Expenses in connection therewith.
In spite of the further set-backs it has suffered during the year, we remain a firm adherent of the League and continue to support, and co-operate in, its collective activities to the best of our resources. Although it is now clear that the Covenant does not give the smaller States the practical guarantees which it was supposed to provide when it was first drafted, it does safeguard the principle of the equality of States to this extent, that it makes it possible for the smaller States, including the Saorstát, to play their due part in international activities and to exercise some influence on international policies and decisions. The records of the League show that the smaller States have taken advantage of this position to do really useful work. We shall continue to support the League as long as this position is maintained and as long as the Saorstát can participate in its activities and decisions on a footing of equality with other States. If the League were to be abolished, it would probably mean that the smaller States, including the Saorstát, would cease to have any influence whatever on the direction of international affairs. The act of participation of the smaller States in international affairs is more important than ever at the present time because they constitute the strongest element in making for peace. One of the Deputies, speaking in the earlier debate, had referred to the considerations which gave us a special position of importance in the League. Such considerations had a good deal to do with the appointment of an Irish national as Chairman on the Bolivia-Paraguay dispute, the appointment of an Irish jurist on the Bernheim Committee, the appointment of an Irish national as High Commissioner of the Free City of Dantzig, the appointment of an Irish Chairman of the Committee on the Colombia and Peruvian dispute, the appointment of an Irish corresponding member on the League Economic Committee, the appointment of an Irish member on the health section of the League of Nations. I mention these in order to point out to the Deputies on the opposite benches that the position which we occupy at Geneva and generally in international affairs has certainly not lessened during the year.