Some days ago I put down a question to the Minister for External Affairs asking him whether his attention had been drawn to the fact that in recordings broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation of the reading of the proclamation of accession of the new British Sovereign wherein she was described as "Queen of Great Britain and Ireland" and, if so, whether the Government proposed to take steps to refute the assumption of sovereignty by Britain over Ireland thus implied. When I drafted this question the subsequent announcement of the styles and titles of the new queen of England had not been promulgated. The question related to the reading of the Proclamation of Accession which was read throughout different parts of England immediately following upon the death of the late King of Great Britain.
I put down the question, not anticipating that it would cause the Minister for External Affairs any difficulty. I felt it was a matter to which his attention should be drawn and did not anticipate that it would lead to any acrimonious discussions at Question Time. The Minister, in replying, said:
"The Deputy appears to be confusing the Proclamation of Accession of the new British Sovereign which was made in London with the form used in some Commonwealth countries. No mention of Ireland was included in the London Proclamation of Accession, but in some Commonwealth countries and, later, when the styles and titles of Queen Elizabeth II were recited by the Garter King-at-Arms at the burial ceremony at Windsor, the British statutory form, which mentions Ireland, was used."
The Minister went on to say:
"As the Deputy is, of course, aware, the existing statutory form of royal title was adopted by British Royal Proclamation on the 22nd June, 1948, and during the past three and a half years has been in constant use by the British Government. The assumption of sovereignty it implies is well known not to be accepted by the Irish people or the Irish Government. In view of our Constitution, which clearly sets out wherein lies the sovereignty of Ireland, and of the obvious political facts, any more formal refutation would not seem likely at present to serve any effective purpose."
There was no confusion whatsoever in my mind as to the question I put to the Minister. Through some rather extraordinary process of the Press, various reports were published in our newspapers immediately following upon the death of the late King of Great Britain to the effect that the British Royal Title had been changed in some respects. Simultaneously with those reports, recordings of the Proclamation read in London proclaimed the new Queen as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. I felt that it would be well to have these matters cleared up. I felt, too, that on the coming into power of a new sovereign in Great Britain, it was essential that we should make our position clear if that new sovereign claimed sovereignty, either directly or by inference, over Ireland.
As some acrimonious discussions followed between the Minister and myself at Question Time. I felt it would be well to raise this matter on the Adjournment so that it could be cleared up fully. As I said at the outset, I put down this question to the Minister not anticipating that it would give him any difficulty, and hoping that it would provide him with an opportunity of making the position clear.
This is the first time that a new British Sovereign has claimed sovereignty over this State since the Repeal of the External Relations Act, and I think it well that such claim to sovereignty should be clearly repudiated. I do not suggest that it should be done in any bombastic or antagonistic manner. A notification will, no doubt, be sent, through its diplomatic channels, by the British Government to all the governments of the world announcing that a new Queen of Great Britain and Ireland has been proclaimed and now reigns. That claim to sovereignty over Ireland, is, of course, what is known as a "claim of pretension," but even if it be merely a "claim of pretension," I feel it is both necessary and desirable that a formal notification should go from this Government to the governments of all other countries intimating that this Government regards this assumption of sovereignty merely as a "claim of pretension," and that, of course, Ireland is an independent sovereign Republic which does not recognise any form of overlordship by the head of any other State. The Minister, I think somewhat unworthily in his reply to-day, sought to suggest that I was displaying surprise at the assumption of sovereignty by the British Sovereign over Ireland, but that, in fact, this position had obtained since the 22nd of June, 1948.
I was not surprised that this claim was made. The position has obtained far longer than since the 22nd June, 1948. The position of the British Royal Title is that it originally rested on an Act of William III passed in 1696, which settled the succession of the Crown of England and Ireland on Sophia of Hanover and "the heirs of her body being Protestants". Finally, in 1917, the British Royal Family's description was changed to "the House and Family of Windsor". In 1927 the present form of the British Royal Title was evolved and remained unchanged until, I think, the passage of the Indian Independence Act of 1947 in England, which, by Section 7, altered the Royal Title by omitting from it "Emperor of India". That Act, which is the Act under this Proclamation to which the Minister refers was issued, became law in England on the 18th July, 1947.
I am not suggesting that the Minister or the Government is in any way to blame or responsible for the fact that the British Crown should still assume a title from which sovereignty might be inferred in respect to this country. It is probably unwise from the point of view of the British Government and Crown to continue to assert a "title of pretension" of this kind, but so long as an assumption of this kind is made, an assumption which clearly conveys a claim to sovereignty, it is necessary that we should, on the accession of any new Sovereign in Britain that chooses to claim sovereignty over the country, make it clear beyond doubt to the other Governments of the world that we do not admit that claim of sovereignty. This can be done quite politely. There is no necessity for any friction, but I think a formal notification should be sent to the other Governments of the world who will have been notified formally of the accession of the new Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. In so far as Ireland is concerned, that is merely a "title of pretension" which is not accepted by the Irish people.
I would like the Minister to consider that very seriously. It is a matter of some importance. It is a new precedent. Until the 18th April, 1949, when the Republic of Ireland Act, 1948, came into operation here, it would have been difficult to take that step, in that, by the External Relations Act, we not merely had a British Sovereign as part of our constitutional machinery but we also, in fact, accepted the British Sovereign as King of Great Britain and Ireland by sub-section (2), Section 3, of the External Relations Act.
