Extract from a letter from Patrick McGilligan to William T. Cosgrave (Dublin)

Dear President,

I got your letter of 6th October,¹ with extract from letter received by the Chief Justice regarding the Brennans. I have already had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Brennan² and his wife and from my first impressions gathered the idea that they would be of help to us here.

The situation with regard to the Dominion Prime Ministers and the possibility of their visiting Ireland is causing me a certain amount of anxiety. I have already spoken to General Hertzog two or three times and have received from him assurances that he will go to the Free State if time allows.³ Mr. Scullin,⁴ Mr. Moloney⁵ and Mr. Brennan of Australia all informed me on their own initiative that they must visit Ireland before they return to Australia. The difficulty with both Delegations is to find a suitable date. I have already invited Mr. Scullin in the most formal way by letter,⁶ long before he left Australia to come to the Conference, and I have renewed that official invitation here to him and also to General Hertzog. I think, however, that in both cases the visit could be made absolutely certain if you were to write to Hertzog and Scullin an official letter inviting both of them and their colleagues to journey over during the period of the Conference sittings. They will have to be left absolute discretion as to the proper time, and at home you people will have to be ready to arrange week-end dinners and something in the way of an official reception for both on short notice from this side. It would be the much better thing if both Delegations could be got to visit the country together, but whether General Hertzog goes with Mr. Scullin or goes alone I think it would be good business to have a very big reception arranged for him. By that I mean that we should have a reception at the Pier, a military escort and a Government dinner.

The achieving of all this is some time off and I only write you at this point because I feel that if you do not invite them in an official way other organisations may. Next week-end is absolutely full up and offers no possibility of their journeying over and the one after that looks also to be fairly crowded, but beyond that there may be leisure on the week-ends. It would be a good thing if you could get these letters written to them right away.