Minute by Frederick H. Boland concerning Oswald Mosley
(410/1/108)

Mr. Costigan, of the Department of Justice, wrote to me the other day and told me that his Department had been asked by a well-known Dublin solicitor what the attitude of the authorities here would be towards the purchase of a residence in Ireland by Sir Oswald Mosley¹ and the assumption of residence in this country by that gentleman. Mr. Costigan said that his Department would like our views as to what should be said in reply to the enquiry.

I told Mr. Costigan that we had recently turned down a request for a visa from Mr. Otto Strasser, and I had, the other day, told the Belgian Minister that we would in no circumstances give a visa to Léon Degrelle.² We could not, of course, stop Sir Oswald Mosley coming to this country if he made up his mind to do so, but I didn't see why our attitude towards his residing here should be any different to what it was in the case of people like Strasser and Degrelle. In those circumstances, I thought that the reply to the solicitor's enquiry should be that Sir Oswald Mosley's residence in Ireland would not be welcome to the Irish authorities.

Mr. Costigan said that he thought that was in accordance with his Department's views, and they would reply to the solicitor accordingly.