asked the President whether any preparations have been made by the Executive Council or by the several Departments of State concerned for discussions and proposals at the Imperial Conference to be held this year with reference to (1) foreign affairs and defence; (2) constitutional questions; (3) trade, shipping and air communications and allied questions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Imperial Conference.
The Deputy will see from the reply which he will receive to his question addressed to the Minister for External Affairs regarding the Saorstát's representation at the Imperial Conference, that the question of preparation does not yet arise. I can assure the Deputy, however, that the Saorstát representatives will be in a position to discuss questions of interest to this country should an occasion for such discussion occur.
asked the Minister for External Affairs whether the Government of Saorstát Eireann was consulted with reference to the preparation of the agenda for the Imperial Conference to be held this year and, if so, whether he will state what suggestions, if any, were made by our Government.
The Government of Saorstát Eireann were duly informed of the questions which it was proposed to discuss at the forthcoming Imperial Conference. The Government of Saorstát Eireann did not suggest any question for discussion at the Conference.
Arising out of the reply of the Minister for External Affairs, did the Government of the Saorstát accept the terms of reference suggested by the other participants in the Conference, or did they decline them, or did they indicate that they had no interest in the matter?
They did not accept and they did not reject, and did not indicate definitely at any rate that they had no interest in the matter.
Would it be correct to say that the dignified position taken up was that they wobbled like a table jelly and are still wobbling?
asked the Minister for External Affairs whether the Government of Saorstát Eireann will be represented at the Imperial Conference to be held in London this year, and, if so, by whom; and if no decision has yet been reached in this matter, when will such decision be taken?
I have nothing to add to the reply given to the Deputy in answer to similar questions on the 17th February and 11th March.
Am I to understand from the Minister for External Affairs that the Executive Council have not yet reached any decision as to whether they are going to take part in the conference or reached any decision as to when it is expedient to make up their minds as to whether they will join in the proceedings of the Imperial Conference or not?
As I told the Deputy on the last occasion, the necessity for a decision has not arisen.
As I consider this a matter of some gravity, I beg to give notice that I shall raise it on the motion for the adjournment.
This is a question of policy. Furthermore, it is too wide in scope to be raised on the adjournment. It is obviously not the type of question contemplated under the procedure provided for raising questions on the adjournment.
May I make a submission in regard to that matter?
Yes.
As the Chair is aware, I have put down an analogous question on two previous occasions, and on each of those occasions the Minister for External Affairs stated that the Executive Council had not yet made up their minds. On this third occasion I have put the question in two parts: (1), What was their decision and (2), if no decision had been arrived at, when will such a decision be taken. The President's reply to that is that he has nothing further to add. May I not raise the question on the adjournment as to whether it is proper treatment of Parliament that a matter of such vital importance should be left in doubt at such a time as this, and that the President should refuse to submit to the ordinary parliamentary discipline of question and answer, even when he does not want to make an answer to a question put from the front Opposition Bench?
The matter which the Deputy considers to be of such vital importance is undoubtedly a question of policy and may not be raised on the adjournment.
Would the Chair indicate in what way Deputy Dillon may get the information which he requires?
It is not a function of the Chair to give any such indication.
I respectfully submit that the President has not indicated that it is a matter of policy at all. It is a question of whether we are going to be represented at a particular conference or not. If the Chair permits it, the submission which I wish to make, whether the Government Front Bench like it or not, is this: that the question of policy was dealt with by the President on another occasion when he said that the first Article of the Constitution of the Saorstát remained. That was policy—whether we were to remain in the Commonwealth or not. Now, being in the Commonwealth, it is a question of administration whether he is going to attend the conference in London or not. That is my submission: that the House is entitled to be informed whether the Executive Council intends the Government to be represented and, if so, by whom? I submit that is not a question of policy but of administration.
Perhaps it would help the Deputy if I say that, in my opinion, it should be obvious to every member of the House that, in the existing circumstances, it would be of no advantage to our country to be represented at the Imperial Conference.
The Chair, in deciding that this matter should not be raised upon the adjournment, was not influenced by the form or matter of the Minister's reply, but by the facts of the case.