The Order of Business will be as on the Order Paper. No. 2—Estimates for Public Services; Vote 32—Office of Minister for Justice. When that is disposed of we will pass on to Vote 67—External Affairs; after that Vote 1—Governor-General's Establishment. Then we will conclude Vote 33—Office of Minister for Justice (Gárda Síochána), and then items Nos. 3, 4 and 5.
Order of Business.
On which of these Votes will the matter of sanctions be dealt with?
I suggest to the House that we should take first the Vote for External Affairs, and that that should be taken to cover all our foreign relations, including the League of Nations and our relations with Britain. All aspects of our foreign relations could be covered on the Vote for External Affairs.
Why not discuss matters connected with the League of Nations on the League of Nations Vote?
It is very difficult to disentangle these matters. On the separate Vote for the League of Nations, any questions of detail can be raised but it would be very difficult to disentangle the various aspects of our external relations and foreign policy from the other League of Nations matters.
I earnestly suggest to the House that the League of Nations Vote should be discussed separately. Surely, the President does not ask us to throw in the important questions to be discussed in connection with the League of Nations with trade treaties and matters of that kind that must arise in connection with the Vote for External Affairs.
The broad aspects of our external policy, whether in relation to the League of Nations, the question of collective security, our relations with Great Britain or even the question of trade treaties must be regarded somewhat as a whole. If there are any special questions, over and above the broad issues, that call for particular treatment, they can be dealt with on their respective Votes. There is a motion down to refer back the Vote for the League of Nations. The mover of that motion will, I presume, give his reasons for the proposal to refer back and any points he wishes to raise can be dealt with.
So far as we are concerned, we should prefer to deal with the broad aspects of foreign policy and trade treaties on the Vote for External Affairs and reserve the debate on the League of Nations Vote for matters directly arising on that Vote and the general question of collective security. I quite see that the House will not wish to limit the President unduly in what he chooses to say in introducing these Votes but he will recognise that we reserve to ourselves the right to withhold our observations on matters relating to the League of Nations until that Vote is presented.
It is quite clear that any suggestion on the lines I made cannot be carried out unless there is general agreement.