Memorandum from Joseph P. Walshe to Eamon de Valera (Dublin)
'Relief for Italy'

A month ago, having returned from a visit to England, Sir John Maffey told me that his authorities did not welcome the idea of giving us a navicert for a shipload of food destined for Rome and Southern Italy. A project of that character, they thought, would be bound to receive a good deal of publicity. People would say that it was strange we were able to set aside a special ship for Italy at a time when there was such a serious shipping shortage in Ireland, and, even if we did not use an Irish ship, people would say that the natural place to send any food surplus in Ireland was to Great Britain. In fine, they hoped we would not ask specifically for a navicert as they felt they could hardly grant it.

After this failure, I made the suggestion to Sir John Maffey that they should give us facilities for sending a cargo consisting of 1,000 tons of oats and 1,000 tons of potatoes to France. That proposal should offer them less difficulty.

Maffey was not too keen about the idea, but he promised to make enquiries.

He informed me at the beginning of last week that the new proposal appeared not to have any better chance of success. Certain limitations were imposed by military necessities. The capacity of ports had to be considered as well as the priority of military stores. The military authorities would have to agree before anything could be done; that might take a long while. Indeed, they were unlikely to give their agreement. He hoped, however, that, when we were talking to the French, we would say nothing that might put his people in the wrong.

I then suggested that the Irish Red Cross should inform the French Red Cross that they had 1,000 tons of oats and 1,000 tons of potatoes available for France, provided the French Red Cross could obtain the transport required as well as the necessary permissions from the authorities concerned.

Maffey thought his people could have no objection to our taking that line, and I informed Mr. McNamara of the Red Cross accordingly.¹

On the 11th November, Mr. McNamara told me that his Committee had turned down that suggestion because they thought it better to wait until the Red Cross group had been to France and advised them on the situation there. I opposed this attitude because, in the first place, the group may never go to France at all, and, secondly, this may be the last chance we shall have of making even a qualified offer of foodstuffs for relief and of letting our good intentions become public. I urged Mr. McNamara to get the Committee to change their decision.

In view of the attitude of the British described above, and of the lack of success of the Vatican in obtaining navicerts for supplies made available to them by other countries, it would seem that, with regard to European relief generally, we must fall back on a cash contribution.

Up to now the Red Cross has made the following contributions to relief abroad:-

It will be seen from this list that we have not yet done anything specifically for Italy. The Vatican have informed us that they would be very glad to get a substantial contribution from us for the relief committee now established in Rome and composed of representatives from the Vatican, the Italian Government and the Italian Red Cross. So far, the Italian Government has subscribed 10,000,000 lire and the Holy See 5,000,000 lire (i.e., £12,500). It is clear from the communications of our Minister to the Holy See that the Vatican is expecting a contribution from us for this committee.