Dáil Éireann debate -
Monday, 26 May 1941

Vol. 83 No. 7

Adjournment Motion—Conscription in the North.

The Taoiseach

I formally move that the Dáil do now adjourn until to-morrow.

I have asked that this special meeting of the Dáil be summoned because of the view I take of the seriousness of the situation which confronts us. From the moment that the British Prime Minister indicated that the British Government had again under consideration the question of applying conscription to the Northern Six Counties I am sure there is not an Irishman in any part of Ireland who did not see at once the magnitude of the issues involved and the dangers that lay in this proposal. There could be no more grievous attack on any fundamental human right than to force an individual to fight in the forces of another country to which he objected to belong. It was that feeling that united the whole Irish people in their resistance to conscription in 1918. It was the realisation of that fact, and because of other issues involved, which caused the British Government a few years ago to exclude the Six Counties of Northern Ireland from the Conscription Act which they passed prior to the war.

Shortly after the recent announcement was made, I made representations to the British Government, urging as strongly as I could the reasons why the policy which they have hitherto pursued in this regard should not be changed.

There is not an Irishman in any part of the world who does not regard continuing Partition as a deadly wound inflicted upon the body of this nation. I do not think that there is a true Irishman anywhere who would like to contemplate it other than as a passing phase or a temporary expedient. The Six Counties are a part of Ireland. They have always been a part of Ireland. Their inhabitants are Irishmen, and no Act of Parliament can alter this fact, present and historic. In the Six Northern Counties there are more than a third of the population who have vehemently protested against being cut off fom the main body of the nation, who were so cut off against their own will and against the will of the majority of the whole Irish people. It would be an outrage to compel them to fight in the forces of another country which has done them, and continues to do them, this grievous wrong.

No matter what political or economic changes may take place in the world, the people living on these two islands are destined for all time to live as neighbours upon the earth. They are certain at all times to have many more interests in common than they can have with other nations. Surely, then, it must be the aim of statesmen on both sides to make the relationship between the peoples of those islands that of friendly neighbours. It is quite clear that such a relationship can only be built on the basis of mutual freedom. It is for that reason that for over 20 years I have sought to establish such a basis by removing the causes of quarrel which lay in any provision which would make the people of this island in any way subject to the people of the other island. Some three years ago a settlement with the British nation was made, and ratified by that nation's Parliament, which did remove every other outstanding cause of quarrel and left only Partition to be disposed of. I was confident that with the good relations which had been established that would soon be done and that Partition, too, would disappear. Unfortunately the war came and found us with the foundations for a lasting friendship still incomplete and with the grievance of Partition still rankling in many an Irish heart. The Government here, however, adhered to its purpose. As was our right and as was the universal wish of our people, we proclaimed our neutrality, but it has all the time been a friendly neutrality. We have in every peaceful way, so far as it lay in our power, endeavoured to preserve our peacetime co-operation, and we have refrained from doing anything which could be regarded as hostile to Britain. We pledged ourselves years before this war began that we would not permit our territory to be used as a basis of any enemy attack upon Britain, and the forces that we have organised here to maintain our neutrality are our guarantee that we mean to keep that pledge. Should the British Government now go ahead with a proposal to enforce conscription upon the people of the Six Counties, the work which has been accomplished with the utmost patience, perseverance and goodwill, over a long period of years, will be undone, and the people of the two islands will be thrown back again into the old unhappy relations. The people of this country do not want that, and I do not think the people of Britain want it. In the present welter of death and destruction it would seem almost wanton to stir up anew the old bitternesses and antagonisms between the people of these two islands. For what gain I cannot imagine.

I have asked you, the representatives of the people, to meet to-day in order that these representations should not appear to come from one man or from the Government or from any Party in the State, but from all Parties and from our whole people. I did not require the conferences which I have had with the leaders to know that all Parties feel alike in this matter; that all Parties would deplore equally the consequences which they foresee if conscription is imposed on the people of the Six Counties.

I have tried not to say anything here which would make it more difficult for the British Government to give calm consideration and full weight to the representations which I have made. I ask the other speakers to exercise the same reserve.

Mr. Cosgrave

The present situation is so exceedingly dangerous that, if not properly handled, it may involve not merely the future welfare, but the very existence of this State. I feel, therefore, that it is my duty to be as restrained as possible in what I have to say, whilst directing the earnest attention of the Dáil and the attention of the people to some matters of grave importance. Vigorous language in any direction and appeal to strong emotions would, at the present moment, only make a difficult situation still more difficult.

At the beginning, I should like to say how deeply we, in this State, feel the bitter ordeal through which the North of Ireland, and particularly Belfast, have had recently to pass, when on two occasions they were subjected to ruthless air attack. On these occasions, we were deeply moved by the sufferings of our fellow-Irishmen in the North and were glad to be of some assistance to them in their hour of trial.

Speaking as one who, in the last 20 years, has done his utmost continually to improve the relations existing between this country and Great Britain, the proposal now mooted to impose conscription on the North of Ireland came to me as a great shock. I find it difficult to understand why it is thought advisable to take a step that is bound considerably to worsen the relations between the two countries, to create a great deal of bitterness and to increase the dangers which threaten both countries. The unfavourable reactions are difficult to calculate but will, undoubtedly, be great. It will have the effect of still further increasing the feeling of injustice entertained by the people here and by hundreds of thousands in the North, occasioned by the political Partition of the country. I am convinced that the evil results that must inevitably ensure in both parts of Ireland and elsewhere will far outweigh any advantages to Great Britain that might, for the moment, seem to follow from such a step. At this moment, especially, one cannot regard with anything but dismay the worsening of the relations between the two countries, whose interests demand that full harmony should exist between them.

We, therefore, most earnestly hope that the proposal to enforce conscription in Northern Ireland, which may well prove to be a catastrophe for us as well as the occasion of damage to Great Britain, will not be persisted in. We have very grave doubts whether the most effective steps, those most likely to bear fruit, have been taken by the Government to persuade the British Government that the departure now contemplated is worse than unwise. There are other moves which, we think, could have been employed with better prospects of success. I would mention amongst them, for instance, personal contact. Dealing with a situation that has in it so many explosive elements, we fear the result of stirring up strong feelings and increasing the indignation which is already experienced by the great body of public opinion here. These feelings will spring up without any artificial stimulus and, in my opinion, they may contribute very little to stave off evil.

We should ask ourselves whether we are taking the steps best calculated to ward off conscription from the North and to secure a future that would be tolerable either for them or for us. These are questions that require the calmest and the most careful thought, thought unclouded by strong emotion, however comprehensible I find such emotion. We should see to it that we do not involve in common ruin both the Six Counties and the Twenty-Six Counties without any reasonable prospect of any counterbalancing benefit.

There is one thing which we ought to put clearly and on which we ought all to agree. It will require all our efforts, our greatest skill, the employment of our very best ability, to steer this country through to safety and even to a tolerable future through the present war crisis. It should be our task, the task of the Government of this country, of the British Government and of our two peoples to see to it that, against the will of the vast majority of opinion, we do not gradually drift into a conflict; that a stop should be put to any deterioration of our relations with Great Britain and her Government. This will require careful and vigorous handling, and I would ask the Government to give it both. In a world crisis like the present, a tendency to drift is one of the greatest dangers. Every proper step should be taken to avoid a disaster that would follow a conflict with Great Britain and even with the United States, should she enter the war.

Apart altogether from this question of conscription, I should strongly advocate personal contact in order to see whether it is possible to clear up and solve any difficulties that exist at the present moment between the two countries and which, if left unsolved, may have untoward results. At the beginning of the war, I should have thought a conflict, such as I now refer to, impossible, even unthinkable. If I do not now enter on any consideration as to where faults may lie, recognising that we are all human, it is certain that if any damage has already been done, every effort should be made to remedy it. It is vital that, in this time, no question of misunderstanding between us and Great Britain should be allowed to revive an old enmity which everyone in this House fervently hopes has been for ever ended. Provocation may appear inherent in many statements made in a time like this, but wise men will firmly resolve that, in a time of danger, they will not be provoked to anger to the detriment of patient reason.

Having put forward in the briefest space at my command, and with an entire absence of heat, the thoughts that gravely perturb my mind at the present moment, I do not intend to add more, being convinced that anything in the nature of a prolonged debate here can do little to help the solution of this very grave problem.

Mr. Norton

I desire, on behalf of the people I represent in this House, to support the protest made by the Taoiseach against the conscription of our own people in the Six Counties. Among all sections of our people there has been a universal and enduring recognition that the Partition of this country was a crime committed by a powerful neighbour against a small and a peaceful country. That Partition has represented the mutilation of an ancient and territorially and racially indivisible country. That Partition has constituted a suppurating wound which has poisoned the relations between the two countries for many years. Faced as we were with that national indignity, the national aspirations of our people were expressed in a passionate longing for the re-integration of the Six Counties with the motherland. Irishmen of all creeds and classes have happily joined in an endeavour to promote a course of relations between the two countries which would be consummated in a reunification of the country as an indivisible unit.

If, in the face of these aspirations, the British Government were, not merely to maintain Partition, but to impose conscription on our people in the Six Counties, we could only regard that as a calculated act of malice against a small country struggling to lead its own life. The conscription of our people in the Six Counties would be an outrage on every canon of liberty. A nation which proclaims its adherence to principles of liberty and justice should demonstrate its practical recognition of them by applying those principles to the people in the Six Counties who have no desire to remain under external domination. To dragoon our people in the Six Counties to fight with an invading force is to do violence, not merely to international law, but to human rights as well. If this act of aggression is persisted in, we would be entitled to raise justifiable doubts as to whether the high-sounding phrases which were used by the British Government had a real and sincere meaning or were merely phrases used for their propaganda value.

The conscription of our people in the Six Counties will be resented by Irishmen there, here and all over the world. It will be resented by Irishmen of all creeds and classes. The people in the North are Irish—not British: they belong to this nation and they belong to no other nation. As a nation, we have a solemn duty in this hour of danger. That duty is to protect, in every possible way, our own kith and kin and to resist the national indignity that now threatens them from without. In our endeavours to protect them, we must mobilise public opinion here and public opinion in the greater Ireland beyond the seas to frustrate this new act of aggression against our people, this new attempt by the British Government to impose upon our people a conscription which they resent. In all our endeavours, we must strain every possible nerve to ensure that our people will not be left helpless in the fight which is now being forced upon them.

The Dáil adjourned at 3.25 p.m. to Tuesday, May 27th, at 3 p.m.