asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state whether it is the intention to discontinue, the publication of the reports of the Free State Delegations to the League of Nations, and if so, if he will state what is the reason, and if not, when it is proposed to publish the report of the delegation to the Thirteenth Assembly in September, 1932, to the Fourteenth Assembly in September, 1933, to the Fifteenth Assembly in September, 1934, and to the Sixteenth Assembly of 1935.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - League of Nations Reports.
asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state whether it is the intention to discontinue the presentation to the Oireachtas of reports on the sessions of the Council of the League of Nations, and if so, if he will state what is the reason, and if not, if he will state when it is proposed to present to the Oireachtas reports on the sessions of the Council held during the years 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935.
I propose to answer questions 1 and 2 together. It is not the intention to continue the publication of reports of the kind referred to by the Deputy, for the reasons which I explained to the Dáil on the 4th June last in connection with the Estimate for the League of Nations. As I explained on that occasion, these reports were little more than extracts from, and incomplete summaries of, the official League of Nations reports, which are in the Oireachtas Library. They contained nothing that was not already available to Deputies, either in the official report itself or the public Press. I shall, however, lay reports before the House from time to time on any particular aspect of the League's work, or on special subjects discussed at Geneva, should the Government consider it necessary or desirable to do so, or should there be a desire on the part of Deputies for any report of that kind.
Are we to understand from the President that since the coming into office of the Fianna Fáil Government nothing has occurred at the League of Nations that the President considers should be drawn to the notice either of the Oireachtas or the people of this country by way of special report?
The Deputy is to infer nothing of the kind. The point is that there is no report that we think is needed to supplement the information which is available to Deputies in the Oireachtas Library or in the public Press. I might state that the position with regard to these reports was that from 1925 to 1928 stencilled reports were made available in the Library, and from 1929 to 1931 —that is, three reports—the reports were printed and published. The cost of each printed report of the Assembly was between £40 and £60. There were 350 copies printed and only about ten were sold, so that it seemed a waste of public money to publish the reports.
In view of the importance attaching to the League of Nations and to our membership of the League, does the President not consider it an extraordinary state of affairs that members of the Oireachtas who wish to make themselves acquainted with the attitude taken up by our representatives or by our Government at Geneva, or who wish to inform themselves with regard to matters in which this country are especially interested, are invited by the President to go through the whole mass of reports of the League of Nations to find out information on these subjects? Surely the President will agree that where there are special matters in which the Government of the Free State are interested at the League of Nations, both at the Assembly and at the Council, these matters should be reported on as they have been in the past?
As a member of the League of Nations we are interested to a greater or lesser degree in all the matters discussed by the League. To select portions would be to give a very incomplete picture of the whole situation. In the Oireachtas Library full information is available for every Deputy and unless we were to publish a very large and extensive volume a proper picture would not be got. As I said, the reports already published were a very incomplete and inadequate picture of what was happening there.
Surely the President will admit that there is a rather restricted number of matters that bear more directly on the interests of this country and that these matters should be specially drawn to the notice of members of the Oireachtas by the annual reports?
I think I have indicated to the Deputy and to the House generally that if there is any matter as to which, in the opinion of the Government, a special report is necessary, or if there is any general desire on the part of Deputies to get further information about any particular aspect, a report will be given. Otherwise, as I say, I regard it as a waste of public money. Before we came into office there was an unofficial intimation from the Department of Finance that it seemed a waste of public money to provide 350 copies like that when only ten were actually sold.
That means that the Government are incompetent to pick out the matters that particularly affect this country.
That is all nonsense.