Letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Seán Lester (Geneva)
(11/3A) (Secret)

With reference to your minute of the 27th April (S.9/4/Conf.34), I am directed by the Minister to state for your guidance that the Minister does not at present desire that the political difficulties existing between the Government and the British Government should be in any way reflected in your attitude towards the British delegation to the Disarmament Conference, or towards any proposals in which that delegation, or other Commonwealth delegations, may be particularly interested.

In any matters arising at the Disarmament Conference which are of direct concern to this country, it continues to be essential that you should deal with such matters, as heretofore, purely from the viewpoint of the Irish Free State. In matters which are only of general interest to us, it is also desirable that you should follow the policy hitherto pursued, i.e., a policy of co-operation, as far as you may judge it expedient, with the other Commonwealth delegations, always, of course, safeguarding the status of the Irish Free State as an independent member of the League.