Tairgim:
Go ndeontar suim ná reghaidh thar £9,080 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, 1945, chun Síntiúis mar Chabhair do Chostaisí Chumann na Náisiún.
That a sum not exceeding £9,080 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1945, for a Contribution towards the Expenses of the League of Nations.
This Vote makes provision for our contribution to the League of Nations on the same lines as in previous years. There has been no change in the position or work of the League since this Vote was last before the Dáil. The political work of the League is at a complete standstill, but its principal technical services—those dealing with international health problems, economic and financial relations, statistics, the traffic in dangerous drugs, and so on— have been maintained, on the whole, fairly well, considering the circumstances. This Vote covers, of course, only our contribution to the League of Nations proper. Our contribution to the International Labour Office is borne on the Vote for Industry and Commerce. I have already explained to the Dáil in previous years the basis on which we continue to contribute to the League, notwithstanding the very restricted scope to which its activity has been reduced. In order to terminate membership of the League, two years' notice is required under Article I of the Covenant. On the grounds which I have indicated when introducing this Vote in recent years, we have felt that it would not be good policy for a small nation like ours to take the positive step of abandoning the League during these difficult years, and, as long as we remain formally a member of the League, we must, of course, honourably discharge the financial obligations of membership. What precisely the future of the present League may be, nobody can say with certainty. No doubt, in all countries there is a growing realisation of the necessity for some form of international organisation to ensure very much the same objectives as were placed before the present League of Nations in the League Covenant; but, while the general intention may be clear, no definite idea seems yet to have emerged as to the precise form which the international organisation of the future should take, or as to the extent, if any, to which it will utilise the structure of the present League of Nations. It may well be that the present League will disappear, and some entirely new organisation be set up to take its place. In this regard, I do not think that anyone could forecast the future with any fair degree of probability at the present stage. We must await the march of events, in the hope that whatever international organisation is set up will provide a framework within which all nations, great and small, will play a due part in building a just and stable international order. When such an organisation, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all States, comes into being, there need be no doubt that this country will, as in the past, be ready to take its full share in the task awaiting it. In the meantime, I think our present attitude towards the existing League of Nations is the best one to follow in the circumstances.
