Inasmuch as the Leader of the Opposition does not propose to discuss this Estimate, there are some matters to which I wish to refer. First, it gives me pleasure to pay my tribute of gratitude to the Department of External Affairs, of which the Taoiseach is head, for the help they have given in any case where I have asked their assistance on behalf of persons who applied to me, and for their unfailing courtesy in meeting, to the very best of their ability, any problems or difficulties that I have put to them. Secondly, in regard to the Supplementary Estimate introduced by the Taoiseach, I congratulate him on taking a businesslike and sensible view of the particular dilemma which was provided for in the confines of that Supplementary Estimate.
With regard to the Estimate as a whole, we hear a lot, arising out of other Estimates submitted to this House, about post-war planning. I wonder does this country ever intend to do post-war planning in respect of foreign affairs. I do not imagine there are many people left in this world labouring under the illusion that small nations can manage their affairs in a vacuum. All that we do, or can hope to do, in this country is materially conditioned by the state of the world in which we live. During the past 12 months interesting and significant events have taken place throughout the world. Portugal was approached by the British Government, nominally in pursuance of an old treaty, to give special facilities in the Azores for the successful prosecution of the war, and Portugal afforded those facilities on their territory to Great Britain. Spain was approached with a view to suspending or reducing her exports of tungsten to the Axis nations and, after some negotiation, she consented to do so. Turkey was approached to suspend the export of chrome to the Axis nations and, after some negotiation, she not only agreed to do so, but to sell all her chrome to the Allies. Sweden was approached to suspend or reduce shipments of ball-bearings to the Axis nations and, after some negotiation, she consented to do so. Now the foreign policy of this country, vis-a-vis the United States of America, was crystallised in words quoted by the Taoiseach some months ago and they were as follows:
"No wish that I can express can measure the depth of my esteem for you or my desire for your welfare and glory. And farewell the many dear friends I have made and the tens of thousands who, for the reason that I was the representative of a noble nation and a storied, appealing cause, gave me honours they denied to princes—you will not need to be assured that Ireland will not forget and that Ireland will not be ungrateful.
That, I think, pretty adequately crystallises the general feeling of our people in regard to the United States of America. I rarely find myself prepared to subscribe to statements made by the Taoiseach, but in that case I do not think I would exaggerate when I say that, in using those words, he spoke for almost every citizen of this country. It was a source of profound regret to me when the United States of America addressed an appeal to us to exclude the German Minister and the Japanese Consul, in order to contribute to the security of the United States of America, that we found ourselves constrained, unlike Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Sweden, to refuse. But out of that refusal at least one immensely important fact emerges to which the minds of our people should certainly be directed, because it provides a comparison between the attitude adopted by the Axis Powers in circumstances of that character and the attitude adopted by the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America.
When the Axis Powers wanted to exclude the representatives of the United Nations from Holland they addressed no note to them; they made no inquiry. They blasted Rotterdam out of its foundations; they invaded that country and they put the foreign diplomatic representatives out of that country by force and violence and in the process they destroyed the Dutch Army, they enslaved the Dutch nation and they even claimed the right to conscript the Dutch people. When the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America desired a similar accommodation in this country they addressed a Note asking us to give them that which they wanted and, after due reflection, our Government decided that they did not choose to give the United States of America that accommodation or that concession. There was no question of using violence against us. There was no question of using force. There were no threats employed. There were no sanctions invoked. On the contrary, the United States of America said at once: "If you decline to give us that which we have asked for, we do not challenge your right to refuse. We acknowledge that you are a Sovereign State fully entitled to give or withhold anything and everything that is within your gift." Rightly, in my judgment, they felt entitled as a Sovereign Government and, as they believed, an old friend, to ask us frankly for something in our gift which they felt was of very great value to them, if we were in a position to give it to them, but the moment we indicated our reluctance to give what they asked, the moment we indicated that we were not prepared to interpret the words "Ireland will not forget and Ireland will not be ungrateful" as a kind of anticipatory undertaking to assist America if and when she should require our help, the United States of America instantly acknowledged our rights and studiously declined to invoke anything resembling force against us—and this although they had at their disposal approximately 1,000,000 men with armaments and resources sufficient to overwhelm the best that we could put in the field in 48 hours.
I find it very hard in the face of these facts to believe that anyone in this country is truly neutral as between the Axis Powers on the one hand and the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America on the other hand. If Ireland has to choose, after this war, between a world in which the rule of the road shall be that unless a small nation acceded to every demand of its powerful neighbour it would be steam-rolled, as Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Poland and Greece were steam-rolled, and a world run on the lines that a powerful nation asked a small nation what they wanted but, if they were refused, recognised the right of that small nation to run its own affairs in its own way, it is difficult for me to believe that any rational man in this country is indifferent as to the issue of this war and as to which philosophy will prevail in the post-war world. I am not indifferent; I am not and never have been neutral as between the United Nations and the Axis and it is a constant source of shame to me that our people who have so long been the champions of liberty in the world should now be represented before the world as knowing no difference, being quite unprepared to take sides in a conflict between Germany on the one side and the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America on the other.
I look back with satisfaction on the fact that since this business first presented itself to Irish minds I have constantly repudiated the doctrine of neutrality and have constantly kept before our people their obligation in honour at least to make their attitude clearly known as between Germany on the one hand and the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Nations on the other. However, I want to say this, and I say it for all to hear, that although the position of neutrality taken up by our Government is well calculated to create misunderstanding abroad, the fact is, whatever the people in America might imagine to be the case from superficial appearances, that 99 per cent. of our people in this country are pro-American and that those who use the attitude adopted officially by our Government to represent to the United States of America a cold indifference on the part of our people misrepresent our people. The truth is that, whatever the present difficulties and stresses may be if there should eventuate any hard feeling after this war, it will come exclusively from the American side because, so far as our people are concerned, in their hearts, they are as warmly drawn to the American people as they have ever been. I do not disguise that it has been one of my great solicitudes during these years lest a misunderstanding should develop between the ordinary people on both sides of the Atlantic, in our country and in the United States of America.
A great many people here forget that in America the Irish-Americans represent only a very small fraction of the community. Out of 120,000,000 perhaps there are 10,000,000 who have any connection with Ireland however remote. It is vital to the interests of our people that we should retain the sympathy and understanding of that 110,000,000 who know nothing of Ireland but what they read and hear. It is mainly in their ranks that misunderstanding might be planted and might grow. It is going to put a very great test on their understanding that, in this time, people whom they looked upon as their dependable friends have not come up to their expectations of what friends would be prepared to do. For that reason I feel that every step that can be taken should be taken to persuade them that, whatever strategic circumstances have forced upon our Government the attitude which they have in fact adopted, the spiritual affinity between our people, the deep friendship and understanding which have characterised our relations for so long are no less strong and deeply felt amongst the masses of our people than they ever were.
I want to put this categorical question to the Taoiseach because it is fundamental to the whole question of post-war planning. Are we in the Commonwealth or are we not? The British Government says we are. I want to know what the Taoiseach intends the foreign policy of his Government to be. It is his duty to tell the country what is his foreign policy in regard to that matter and whither it is proposed to lead the nation. Heretofore it has been suggested in terrorem that any declaration of that kind might bring disastrous consequences upon the nation. It is now manifest to the most obscurantist citizen of this State that, so far as our two powerful neighbours are concerned —Great Britain and the United States —they recognise our freedom to do what we please and they abrogate any claim to interfere by force with us. We are absolutely free in this country to do exactly what we think is in the best interests of the country. In that situation, and in the knowledge that action suited to the general policy of whatever Government is in office may be called for at the very moment when the war comes to an end, I want to know from the Taoiseach are we in the Commonwealth or are we not? I am in favour of retaining our membership of the Commonwealth and using it for three ends: (1) to secure the unity of the Irish nation and the abolition of the Border; (2) in order to make the influence of a predominantly Catholic nation effective in the counsels of the nations of the world; and (3) in order to ensure for our people an opportunity of securing employment on equal terms throughout the territories of the Commonwealth of Nations to which we at present belong.
In regard to partition, I am convinced that unless a modus vivendi is discovered for our permanent membership of the Commonwealth, however that Commonwealth may develop post-war, there is no prospect of getting rid of the Border in our time. I want to get rid of the Border not only because that is the natural ambition of every Irish nationalist in Ireland and outside it, but because, if the Border continues, there is going to develop upon it social problems incomparably graver than any we have yet had to contend with. Nobody who is not familiar with the conditions obtaining on the Border at present can realise the perils which are developing there. There is growing up a system of smuggling to and fro across the Border which is corrupting our public services north and south of the Border. I venture to say that the corruption is worse north of the Border than it is south. It is corrupting all our people and it is particularly corrupting the children who are being habitually used as messengers for the purpose of defeating the vigilance of the preventive officers on both sides of the Border. The deplorable fact is that no section of the community is making any attempt to stand up against these abuses. Men, lay and clerical—it may as well be said openly—to whom we ought to look as bulwarks against the development of such traffic, are themselves taking part in it, and we have arrived at the point where certain smugglers are carrying across lorryloads of goods, are being waylaid by hi-jackers, are arming themselves against them, and hi-jackers are arming themselves to overcome the force used against them.
I have seen a closely analogous situation developing in Chicago when Dion O'Bannion and Al Capone were rising. When that situation began, respectable citizens of Chicago laughed at the thing. It was then a question of getting a bottle of whiskey, and respectable men were inclined to say: "If we cannot get it any other way, we have to get it this way." I lived in Chicago to see the day when no man could go into the Cicero district of Chicago unless he knew he had the tacit consent of Al Capone, in which the whole municipal services of that great city broke down and were dominated by the gangster element, and, until the Federal Government intervened, the stranglehold of that gentleman on that city of 2,000,000 people was virtually absolute. No honest man dare walk the streets, or at least he did so in considerable trepidation and, if you were murdered in the city by an agent of Al Capone, no respectable citizen would see your body lying in the gutter. They would pass you by and leave you rather than run the risk of the vengeance of the gangster element which controlled the city at the time.
Many people in this House may think I exaggerate, but I warn you to-day that, if the Border continues where it is for another decade, we shall see develop there a situation closely analogous to the Chicago situation before the Federal Government of the United States intervened to put an end to it. There is already developing in certain areas on the Border a situation in which respectable people go in fear of their lives lest they come into conflict with some of the smuggling gangs and, in my opinion, this situation is developing steadily. I have been advised by many of my own supporters not to dwell upon that subject, because the horrifying fact is that respectable men, whom ordinarily one would be proud to claim as one's friends, are themselves engaged in it. There seems to be a complete suspension of all moral sense in regard to that matter along the Border on both sides, north and south. That is one of the very potent reasons why I believe it is urgent and vital to the life of this country that we should get rid of the Border.
Another reason is this. So long as this war is on, the Fianna Fáil Government very properly has locked up at the Curragh Camp all the gentlemen who claim the right to use violence towards their neighbours but, when the war is over, I do not suppose we can keep them in perpetuity. So long as the Border is there, any blackguard in this country who wants to draw a gun on some neighbour or policeman, instead of being regarded as a danger to the community, as another murderer deserving of execution, is going to gather a cloak of respectability around himself and say that he did it in order to abolish the Border. So long as they have the right to say that in this part of the country, the effective enforcement of the law in normal times will be extremely difficult. Are not these facts that I expound, the truth? If they are the truth, is it not vitally urgent to get rid of the Border, and if it is vitally urgent to get rid of the Border, can we get rid of it on the basis of bringing the Six Counties of Northern Ireland out of the Commonwealth with us? If we cannot, and if we mean business about getting rid of the Border, are we prepared, having examined the constitution of the Commonwealth and recognised that it interferes in no particular with the absolute sovereignty of the Irish people within the Irish nation, to work with it and in it and, thereby, take a practical step towards the abolition of the Border? Is it or is it not true that an island of 3,000,000, with no material resources of any kind, can carry but little weight in the councils of the nations of the world? Is it or is it not true that, if that nation is admitted to participation on terms of absolute equality with the other nations of the Commonwealth of Nations, she can wield in that Commonwealth considerable influence? Is there anybody in this House who denies that we went into the Commonwealth of Nations, or the Empire as it was then known, in 1923, and that within ten years we so metamorphosized its whole constitution that the Taoiseach himself, on coming into office, discovered that he had Constitutional powers at his disposal, by virtue of the metamorphosis effected in the Commonwealth of Nations by our statesmen, which enabled him to do by Act of Parliament all the things to achieve which he had been prepared to fight a civil war unsuccessfully?
If our influence within the Commonwealth, on its very self, was so vast, is it unreasonable to anticipate that in the post-war world, were we cordial participants in its activities, our influence would continue to be felt and that that influence would continue to be a Catholic influence: that the philosophy underlying the politics of the Catholic State would find effective expression not only within the limits of that Commonwealth but, through it, on the world at large? Can it be doubted that as a member of the Commonwealth we can be more effective and influential in the councils of the world than we can ever hope to be as a separate State of 26 counties.
Lastly—and though this is purely mundane it is a matter of very real significance for our people—the National University of Ireland and T.C.D. are turning out approximately twice as many professional graduates as this country can absorb. These graduates have got to get employment somewhere if they are to live, or else we have got to close the doors of the universities on all the professions, just as, mind you, we had to do in the case of the training colleges in respect of national teachers. We could not export our national teachers and, therefore, the only thing we could do, when we had too many of them, was to close down the training colleges and prevent any more from being trained. If we have not opportunities for doctors, engineers, and other professional classes, educated in our universities, in the Commonwealth of Nations, then the only remedy is to close down these faculties until the surplus is absorbed, over the next ten or 20 years, in the service of our own country, and that means that large professions will be, virtually, for ever closed to the masses of our people. I want for our people the right and opportunity to earn their living throughout the Commonwealth. It is a very precious asset to our people, which has been of immense advantage to them in the past, and which should be of immense advantage to them in the future. Now, the ludicrous thing is that a considerable body of our people, knowing that in their hearts, are prepared in public to repudiate such a desire and say that it is a shameful and un-national aspiration. I glory in the right of our people to enjoy the benefits of that Commonwealth, which they have played no small part in building up physically and constitutionally. I want to belong to it, not only for the advantages it confers on us, but for the security it gives us that our soverignty, independence and unity, once established, can be maintained not only to-day and to-morrow, but for all time, so long as that Commonwealth exists.
I want to know from the Taoiseach, what is his policy in this matter. Are not the people entitled to know whether at the end of this war the Twenty-Six Counties of this country are to cut themselves away from the Commonwealth and declare their independence as a republic? Are not the people entitled to know whether it is the Taoiseach's policy to incorporate the Six Counties of Northern Ireland in an Irish republic, cut off and distinct from the Commonwealth of Nations, or is it his ambition to incorporate the Six Counties of Northern Ireland in a united Ireland based on Document No. 2? Is it his intention, wrapped in the raiment of Republicanism, to walk with his head erect into the British Empire? Surely, that is not a secret which may be properly buried in the Taoiseach's heart? Surely, the Irish people have a right to be told where his Government proposes to march in regard to that matter? I made it quite clear what my views are on that subject, and I want to know, as an elected representative of the people, whither the Government are trying to lead this nation, so that those of us who agree with them may collaborate with them, and that those of us who disagree with them may challenge their decision in the country.