asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state whether it is the intention of the Government to open negotiations with the British Government with a view to finding a solution of the problem of Partition.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Partition Problem.
I do not know precisely what the Deputy means by opening negotiations with the British Government. Negotiations are not necessary. Partition was created by the British Parliament and can be ended by that Parliament. The facts are known. During the period of the negotiations with the then British Government in 1938 the facts were repeatedly stated, and I made it clear again and again in public and in private at that time that, so long as Partition was maintained and the unity of Ireland prevented, there could be no real and final reconciliation between Ireland and Britain.
I have no doubt that the present British Government understand the situation. They must know that the occupation of the Six Counties by Britain is a flagrant violation of the fundamental national rights and sovereignty of the Irish people; they must know that they have no more right to occupy these six counties of our country than a foreign Power would have to occupy some area of England in which there happened to be a political minority opposed to the will of the majority, for example, the Conservative SouthEast of England, at the present time.
So long as a minority in any country is used, as our minority is used, to serve the interests of an external power, all attempts to find a just solution of the world's problems, or to find a secure basis for world peace, are doomed to failure.