Robert Brennan to Maire O'Brien (Madrid)

A Chara,
Pending the receipt of formal credentials which will be sent you as soon as possible, please take this as an official intimation that you are appointed Press Agent in Madrid at a salary of £250 per annum, from the 1st. May. It would be your duty to issue regularly an Irish Bulletin based on material supplied to you in the Irish Bulletin and the French Bulletin and also such material as would be useful in the Irish news papers and all such special information as you will receive from this office from time to time.

I would be glad if you would kindly note that you will be expected to send at the earliest possible moment an estimate of the cost of the Bureau for the next three months. You will also be expected to furnish a monthly balance sheet showing expenditure and balance in hands, and a monthly report of the general activities of your Department and the general situation in Spain as it affects our situation.

Kindly note that in future all communications from you are to be direct to this Department and forwarded to Mr. Sean T. O'Ceallaigh. We have learned from Mr. Gavan Duffy and from other visitors to Spain of the splendid work you have been doing hitherto, and I know it is not necessary to impress on you the importance of counteracting enemy propaganda in Spain as elsewhere.

The situation here continues encouraging as you will have learned from home news papers. The spirit of the people in the face of diabolical aggression is wonderful and there is every sign that this generation of Irish men and Irish women will never be beaten to their knees. We are determined and the detemination grows every day that this fight is no longer going to be handed on to a future generation.

The Irish Government in spite of all difficulties continues to function and to do so efficiently. Needless to say this would not happen unless we had the allegiance of the entire people. The whole population is so to speak a conspiracy against any future domination on the part of England.

In face of this you will be encouraged to put your best foot forward in the station where you are working to do all in your power to make known our case.

We have nothing to hide and that is the strength of our case. I shall be anxiously looking forward to your reports.