I desire to ask the President if he has any statement to make to the Dáil with respect to the proposal to meet the British Prime Minister and the Premier of Northern Ireland in London on Friday?
PRIVATE NOTICE QUESTION. - BOUNDARY CONFERENCE.
Mr. O'HIGGINS
The President, who is absent in the Seanad, asked me to deal with this question. It will be remembered that the late British Government had decided to call a Conference, and a date was fixed provisionally for the 15th December. Political conditions in England became somewhat chaotic in December, and the Conference did not meet. The new British Government, immediately on taking office, informed us that their policy in this particular matter does not differ from the policy of their predecessors, and they wrote suggesting that the Conference meet on Friday, 1st February. We have accepted that invitation on the same basis as our acceptance of the invitation from Mr. Baldwin.
Will the Minister represent to the President the desirability of making announcements on this subject first of all to the Dáil and not at a party meeting?
Mr. O'HIGGINS
In that connection I would say that the President's announcement yesterday can only be technically regarded as an announcement to a party convention. It was an announcement through the medium of that gathering, to the people, and it was considered advisable, in view of the unrest, anxiety, and irritation that has been occasioned by the delay in this matter, to acquaint the people of the development at the earliest possible moment. It was very far from being the intention of the President in any way to slight the Dáil collectively or any individual Deputy.