Letter from Frederick H. Boland to James J. McElligott (Dublin)
(E86/8/39) (Copy)

With reference to our verbal discussions on the subject of the proposed change of personnel in the post of Minister Plenipotentiary at Berlin, I am directed by the Minister for External Affairs to state, for the information of the Minister for Finance, that he considers it desirable in the interests of the Service that Mr. Bewley, the present occupant of the post, should be recalled for a period of service in Dublin.

2. Mr. Bewley has completed a period of over ten years' service abroad. He has been Minister in Berlin for over six years. It is the practice of many other countries not to leave their representatives abroad too long in any one place. While for some time to come the circumstances of our Service may not allow of a universal application of the principle, the Minister considers that it is a sound one, and he is anxious to apply it so far as may be practicable. Apart from the question of length of residence in a particular place there is the question of length of absence from the home country. The effect of prolonged absence will vary in individual cases with the temperament and outlook of the particular officers concerned. There is always a danger, however, that in particular cases it may reach such a point as to render an officer, on the one hand, wholly unsuitable to represent the country abroad, and, on the other, constitutionally incapable of re-adapting himself to the conditions of service in a Home Department. The Minister considers it very important in the interests of the Service no less than that of the officers concerned that, before this point is reached in any individual case, the officer concerned should be recalled home and enabled by means of residence and official service in Dublin to renew his acquaintance with the local environment. After a recent review of the work of the Berlin Legation the Minister has reached the conclusion, on the strength of the foregoing considerations, that Mr. Bewley should return for a period of service in Dublin.

3. Accordingly the Minister proposes to recall Bewley to a post on the Headquarters staff of this Department. There is at present no post vacant on this Department's establishment carrying a scale of salary equivalent to that which Mr. Bewley at present enjoys. As the Minister for Finance is aware, however, the voted establishment of this Department includes a post of Principal Officer on the scale £700-20-£800 which is at present vacant and was retained in the Estimates for the current year without prejudice pending a decision on the proposals made in this Department's minute A. 247 of the 27^th January 1939. Subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance, the Minister proposes that on his return to Dublin Mr. Bewley should 'block' this vacant post of Principal Officer, retaining his present salary scale of £800-25-£1,000, to which will be added, of course, the appropriate home cost-of-living bonus. It is intended that Mr. Bewley's period of service as Minister in Berlin should be terminated as from the 31^st July, and that his transfer to Dublin should date as from the 1^st August. Mr. Bewley has been instructed accordingly.

4. I am now to seek the formal sanction of the Minister for Finance for Mr. Bewley's recall and for his assignment to the vacant post of Principal Officer in this Department on the conditions indicated above. I am to express regret that, following the verbal discussions on the matter between the two Departments, the formal sanction of the Minister for Finance for these proposals was not sought in writing before now.