asked the Minister for External Affairs whether he has considered, and, if so, with what result, the provisions of Article 4 of the proposed North Atlantic Treaty from the point of view that the acceptance of the provisions of this article by Ireland would imply the acceptance of the unnatural and enforced division of our country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - The North Atlantic Treaty.
Article 2 of our Constitution provides that:—
"The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and its territorial seas."
Article 4 of the draft Atlantic Treaty, which is the consultative article, refers to.
"the territorial integrity, political independance or security"
of the parties to the treaty. The provisions of this article might well, under existing circumstances in regard to the six north-eastern counties, imply an acceptance that "the territorial integrity" and "political independence" referred to in the article, are the concern of Great Britain, unless it is clearly recognised that the national territory of this State consists of the whole island of Ireland, as provided by Article 2 of our Constitution.
asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state whether the exchange of views on the proposed North Atlantic Treaty, which took place between the Government of the United States and the Irish Government was written or verbal, and, if this exchange was in writing, whether he will consider the publication of the notes exchanged.
The exchange of views referred to took place by way of aide-mémoire. The Irish Government's aidemémoire was delivered to the United States on the 8th February last. No intimation has so far been received to indicate that the United States Government, and the Governments of the other convening Powers, have yet had an opportunity of considering the Irish Government's aide-mémoire.
As already stated, the Irish Government's view is that a constructive approach to the concept of Atlantic co-operation would suggest the necessity of examining, in the first instance, problems tending to prevent or weaken the co-operation in the Atlantic area. The Irish Government has indicated that it would welcome such an approach to what we consider to be the unnatural and unjust division of our country.
In these circumstances, I do not envisage the publication, at the moment, of the documents in question.
Will the Minister assure the House that on receipt of an intimation from the United States Government that the aide-mémoire of the Irish Government has been received and considered, he will publish it?
Subject to agreement with the United States Government, I shall be quite prepared to consider the publication of the Irish Government's aide-mémoire at a later stage.