Confidential report from Charles Bewley to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin) with covering letter to Eamon de Valera¹
(Copy)

Dear Mr. De Valera,
I enclose copy of report on the general situation, which I trust you will do me the honour of reading.

I think it well to send a report on the present relations of Germany and Ireland at the end of my six years' occupation of the post of Minister in Berlin. While I am aware that reports made by a Minister are never communicated to Ministers accredited in other countries and are frequently not submitted to the Minister for External Affairs, I desire to put on record a short and objective statement of the facts, in order that no suggestion may be made that I myself have any responsibility for the present state of affairs.

It would be wasted time to set out in detail the arguments in favour of particular measures which are contained in very many of my earlier minutes. I therefore propose to give in as concise form as possible the conclusions at which I have arrived.

1. Ireland, at the end of ten years' separate representation at Berlin, is regarded by the German Government, as by the other Governments where it has representation, as a British dependency, with autonomy but no real independence either political or spiritual. Hitler in his latest Reichstag speech expressly refers to England's treatment of Ireland as a domestic matter in which he would not be entitled to interfere². President Roosevelt in his open letter to Hitler refers to 'Great Britain and Éire' as one of the countries which should be guaranteed.
2. The causes of this impression are numerous. In the first place, foreign spectators naturally pay less attention to phrases like 'Commonwealth of Nations' or 'External Association' than to the reality of the situation, i.e. that Ireland, or the 26 counties, remains a member of the British Empire.
3. This inherent difficulty in the position of Ireland could at least in part be overcome by a manifestation of her will to follow a policy in international affairs independent of English policy. No such policy has been adopted.
4. Instances in the lack of independence from England in deciding on Irish policy are:
   • The continuous following in England's steps in the League of Nations, e.g., the introduction of sanctions against Italy, the insistence on 'neutrality' between the Catholic and the Communist forces in Spain, etc., etc. The explanation given in minutes of the Department to the effect that English and Irish policy merely happen to coincide is not likely to carry conviction.
   • The apparent approbation by the Irish Government of the refusal of the Irish press and in particular of the Government organ to publish any for eign news except that supplied by British propagandist agencies. Phrases such as 'freedom of the press' are not considered a satisfactory explanation.
   • Acts of submission to the King of England, as for instance the instructions sent to the Irish Chargé d'Affaires in Paris to take part in cere monies held in honour of His Majesty and attended by the members of the British Empire. Full details appeared in the continental, though of course not in the Irish, press.
   • The complete indifference of the Irish government and officials to the development of trade with countries other than Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
   • The failure to inform the German Government, or any other Government to which an Irish Minister is accredited, of the attitude of the Irish Government on any question of international politics. The silence on the part of the Irish Government is regarded as a proof that it has no policy except to follow that of the British Government.
   • The prohibition of the supply of news to, or even of direct communication with, the responsible officials in the German Foreign Office and Propaganda Ministry on the ground that the relations of the German Government and the Catholic Church are strained. The net result of such prohibition is that Ireland loses such publicity against partition, where as the German Government does not even know that it is being punished for its misdeeds by the officials of the Irish Department of External Affairs.
   • The preference of the Irish Government to be represented by English consular officials, instead of following the example of independent states in appointing its own consuls. I have been furnished by the Department with a long defence of its practices: as however it was concerned exclusively with the alleged state of affairs in the United States of America, I fear that the world in general would experience the same difficulty as myself in seeing its relevance.
5. As I have pointed out a number of matters obviously requiring reform, I feel that the Minister has a right to ask for my opinion on their cause. I propose accordingly to set out my view with all possible conciseness.
6. The first and most obvious cause of the failure to adopt an independent policy in foreign affairs is what I can only describe by the colloquial term 'inferiority complex'. So long as British institutions (from the system of government down to details of household management) are regarded as the only possible model for Irish Government Departments, so long will it be impossible to expect an objective or independent view on international affairs. Lest it should be thought that I am exaggerating, I desire to refer to a recent correspondence on the payments to be made to the Legation porter during illness: the solution which appeared natural to the officials of the Irish Department of External Affairs was to inquire as to the practice of the British Embassy.
7. This instance is of course a trivial one though significant: it could be reinforced by very many others. The effect produced on the outside world was summed up by a foreign diplomat no longer in Ireland in the observation 'Your people from the Minister downwards don't really believe that any other country exists except England.'
8. The secondary cause of the failure of the Irish Department of External Affairs to function in the manner in which Ministers of Foreign Affairs in other states function is its lack of experience and apparent reluctance or incapacity to learn. In other states one of the first duties of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considered to be the instruction of their Ministers abroad as to the policy of their government, and in particular as to the answers to be given to particular inquiries about that policy. The officials of the Irish Department of External Affairs obviously do not consider such instruction as any part of their duties, and indeed, resent any suggestion that their present practice could be improved in any respect, with the natural result that Irish Ministers abroad are never in a position to explain the attitude of the Irish Government on any subject to the Government to which they are accredited, and that the Government to which they are accredited assumes that the Irish Government has no policy except that of Great Britain. It is not for me to conjecture whether this outward self-satisfaction conceals an inner feeling of inadequacy or not.
9. If in fact the Irish Government has no such policy, the officials of the Department cannot be blamed for not communicating it. If on the other hand an independent policy exists, it is difficult to see why it should be kept as a secret not only from foreign governments but from the representatives of the Irish Government itself.
10. It is of course for the Minister for External Affairs to decide whether his Department shall carry out the duties to which I have alluded. I desire however to suggest the possibility that the practice of all other countries during their centuries of independent national life is not less important than the views held by officials, whose experience began in the year 1922 and has since then for practical purposes been confined to Dublin.
11. I have no doubt that the Minister is already aware of all the facts enumerated by me in this minute. I am confident however that their presentation in tabulated form will be of assistance to him should he in the future contemplate the transformation of the Department into an effectively functioning instrument for the carrying out of a definite policy in international affairs.