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Volume 10 1951~1957

Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 220 NAI TSCH/3/S9361/C

Memorandum by Seamus MacÚgo
'Deputation from Irish Anti-Partition League'
(S6390B)

Dublin, 28 August 1953

  1. At 11.30 a.m. on Thursday, 27th August, 1953, the Taoiseach and the Minister for External Affairs received a deputation from the Irish Anti-Partition League comprising Mr. E. McAteer, MP, Mr. J. Stewart, MP, Mr. R.H. O’Connor, MP,1 and Senator P.F. McGill. Mr. MacÚgo, Department of the Taoiseach, was in attendance.
  2. The deputation inquired whether, if the League should decide that Six-County Members to be elected to the British Parliament should abstain from attendance there, provision could be made for their admission to Dáil Éireann. Mr. McAteer said that what the deputation had in mind was a ‘symbolic’ attendance – a right of audience of some kind – and not a full day-to-day participation in the affairs of the Dáil. The deputation felt that nothing would more improve the morale of the Nationalist population of the Six Counties than the attendance of the Imperial Representatives in Dublin. It was important, also, that the Six Counties should keep in step with the rest of Ireland.
  3. The Taoiseach said fundamentally there was nothing new in the case now presented by the deputation. The main objections to admission to the Dáil remained the same. Admission would mean representation for Six County members without taxation or responsibility; it would upset the idea of representation in the 26 Counties; it would be open to counter-measures by the Six County authorities; it would endanger the co-operation the Six-County representatives now received from all Parties here and might free them to take sides on questions at issue here; unless it could be followed up with military action, it would be no more than a ‘stunt’ which would achieve nothing of permanent value and would lead to constant bickering. With regard to the ‘symbolic’ attendance by Six-County representatives, the Taoiseach said he did not think that a majority could be got here in support of such a proposal. If accepted, it would undoubtedly be followed by a demand for fuller representation. If the Dáil Chamber were structurally suitable for the railing off of a portion to indicate the Six-County seats, the proposal might have some propaganda value. He added that a policy of abstention from Westminster was not necessarily a negative one and could in certain circumstances be a positive contribution to the solution of the Partition problem.
  4. The Minister for External Affairs said that no Six-County speaker on Anti-Partition could avoid antagonising somebody in the Dáil. The day that the natural and healthy differences of opinion in the Twenty-Six Counties were reflected in the Six-Counties would be a bad one for Ireland. Instead of sending the Imperial Representatives to Dublin he suggested that they should be employed as organisers in the Six Counties where, with the exception of small parts, the job of organising was not yet done. He suggested that a great deal of work could be done by the League for the native language and games and generally for the social welfare of the people.
  5. The deputation stated that it was now clear that the question of admission of Six-County Representatives to the Dáil must be ruled out. The deputation withdrew at 12.30 p.m.

1 1 Roderick Hugh O'Connor (1910-2000), businessman, solicitor and politician. Nationalist MP for West Tyrone (1949-72).

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