I now beg to raise this question as to the Boundary Commission, of which I have given notice. I gave notice of the question in order to secure a statement from the Government as to how this question stands at the moment. It is now over five months since I last drew attention to this matter. On that occasion I had to make an observation at the beginning of my remarks that I feel inclined to make now, and that is to call attention to how much interest is manifested in this Northern question by Deputies. I have not raised this question for any other than very serious reasons. Five months have come and gone since the President, in reply to my statement, said that "the Treaty is the law, and that its provisions must be carried out," or some words to that effect. What has happened in the interval? On that occasion when I raised this question I quoted from a statement made by the Minister for Home Affairs some time previously, when he said: "As far as the Free State is concerned, its case is prepared. The facts are collated and the relevant statistics are available." There were many reasons up to that time which warranted and justified the delay that had taken place. I want to be made aware that equally good reasons have existed during the five months to which I have referred. A Conference was then being mooted, and I think had been agreed to by the heads of the Saorstát—a Conference between representatives of the Saorstát, of the Northern Parliament and the British Government. At that time I approved of the Conference, and thought I could construe it, not as a means on the part of certain people to try and evade the commitments of the Treaty, but as an effort to get Irish representatives from different parts of the country to come together and to meet in good faith, and come to an amicable understanding.
That Conference met in London on February 1st—something over two months ago. I cannot recollect that since it was convened and took place and terminated, that there has been any report to this Assembly as to its proceedings. The responsible Minister in England, Mr. Thomas, stated on February 28th as follows—"They accepted the Treaty in the spirit and in the letter and desired to give effect to it. They would carry out its provisions for the setting up of a Commission for the settlement of the Boundary between the Irish Free State and the North of Ireland Government."
It is over two months since the Conference met, and so far as we are concerned, or so far as we know, the position remains the same as it was five months ago when I raised this question here. One begins to wonder what is the meaning of this, and one requires some assurance, and I hope we will get it tonight, that this Conference business is not a manoeuvre to find a way out, and to find a means by which the carrying out of Clause 12 of the Treaty may be evaded by the British and the Northern Parliament. I hope we will get some assurance on that point. I think it is pertinent to remark that one Dublin paper to-day suggested that this Conference is to re-assemble again in a fortnight. What is it to re-assemble for? What is it to discuss? The terms of the Treaty governing this question were explicit and definite. Clause 12 of the Treaty is known to all here who have taken an interest in this matter. It commits the British Government to assent to the setting up of this Boundary Commission and to decide the boundary in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. We have had one Conference over two months ago, and so far as we know it has come to nothing. Is it going to meet again to go over the same ground to try and find a way out of Clause 12 or is it going to discuss ways and means of putting Clause 12 into operation? I say we have a responsibility to our people in the North in this matter. Those of you who read yesterday's papers will have noticed what seemed to me when I read it—an agonising cry of despair from the North, at the conference of representative men held in Omagh on Sunday. The reverend chairman at that meeting said, in the course of his speech, "We seem to be utterly forgotten, and all our efforts ignored, and now we find ourselves back in pre-emancipation days." We have a responsibility to these people who have looked to us to see that they were not going to be deserted, and that they were not going to be forgotten. We have a right to look to our Executive Council to see that that betrayal shall not take place. Things have been happening up there which are worthy of comment. As regards the Northern Government, if time allowed I might keep the Dáil for hours discussing matters that have been happening up there, and I think it would not be a waste of time, because information on this point seems to be but little known to a considerable element in this Dáil. I will not refer now to the pogroms that have gone on up there without anyone being brought to book. I refer, though, to the thing which is now cutting the great majority of our people in at least Tyrone and Fermanagh out of the pale of civilised life.
The Northern Government have carried through a jerrymandering scheme which has had the result of practically disfranchising the great majority in both Tyrone and Fermanagh. In Tyrone a majority of 15,000 Catholics, which is synonymous with the term "Nationalist" up there, and who were able to have a majority of ten on the County Council, have, as the result of the jerrymandering operation of the Northern Government, had that majority of ten for the Nationalists converted into a majority of fifteen for the minority. Police officers are going round different Orange Lodges making bitter anti-Catholic speeches, and these are men who are supposed to be leaders of the Forces that control law and order. I wonder what would be thought if some head official of the Civic Guard went down to some part of the South of Ireland and made bitter anti-Protestant speeches. I think the world would ring with horror from those now posing as the advocates of law and order in this particular section in this country. I believe we will have to adjourn this discussion at nine o'clock, and I want to give the President time to make some response to my appeal. Though I might speak at very great length, and I would like to do so, I shall refrain from saying more than a few additional words. I believe that the time has come to end anything that might stand in the way of the setting up of the Boundary Commission. The time for parleying has finished, and the object of any further attempt to waste time will be quite obvious. We know that the British Government has not got exactly what might be termed fixity of tenure, and we know that the Northern Government are refusing to co-operate with the Free State because they are looking forward to the termination of that Government in order that they may see their friends back in power to stand by them in this matter. We know they want to keep this thing hanging back in the hope that the present British Government will go out of office. We know that during all this time since the Treaty was signed they have been digging themselves in, entrenching their position in every direction, and every week that passes by now will only help them in this matter. I wonder are the Dáil and the Executive of the Free State going to acquiesce in that?
There is one other point I want to mention. It is something perhaps bigger and broader than the Northern aspect. This whole question of uncertainty about the North is holding up our whole national economic life. We do not know what the territory of Saorstát Eireann is that we are to operate on. We do not know what area will be affected by the Railway Bill, or what railways will be in our territory. We cannot get down to sound principles to frame an economic policy until this question is decided. I sometimes think that there are influences operating in the Saorstát, posturing as friendly to the Saorstát, affecting to be trying to secure a reconciliation between the Saorstát and the North, but whose real purpose is to play into the hands of the men in the North who will have no friendship with us, and to make sure as far as reasonably possible that what the North-East Belfast politicians are seeking will be secured, and that Clause 12 of the Treaty will become a dead letter. I sometimes think there is a north-east wind blowing down upon our statesmen here which is cooling or blurring their perception of these things. Well, whether that is so or not, certainly the delay and the lack of information on what the position is all appears that this same process of delay is still going to continue. All this is very disconcerting and very disheartening and very trying, and I have raised this question certainly not with any idea of embarrassing our Government in its negotiations, but in the belief that the time is overdue for a Government statement on this matter, and I sincerely hope that that statement will be one that will be reassuring to us, and that will be a message to those who made that cry of despair in the North a few days ago. I hope it will be a message to them that their interests and their future are not being forgotten, and that their interests and their future are as dear to the Executive of the Saorstát as any other part of Ireland, and that the Government has made up its mind that the time for delay is past, and that the next move in this matter will be a definite emphatic assurance or intimation to the British Government that no further delay would be tolerated, and that the Boundary Commission must be set up forthwith.
