Memorandum by the Department of Supplies on relief aid to Europe and
U.N.R.R.A.

On the 3rd February, the Secretary of the Department of Supplies¹ discussed with Mr. Shanagher and Mr. Walshe, Secretary, Department of External Affairs, the question of the export of goods by way of relief to distressed areas in Europe.

Opening the discussion Mr. Shanagher explained that towards the end of last year an application was made by the Consul General for the Netherlands² for permission to send out for relief in Holland some old clothing collected by the Dutch colony in this country. The Minister had decided to grant the export licence and had also decided at the same time to permit other similar exports, e.g., a small amount of equipment by a convent here to their parent house in Caen which had been destroyed. An export licence had also recently been granted to the Belgian colony for the export of clothing collected for relief in Belgium. There were now two other applications, viz., a request by the Queen of the Netherlands for permission to send out clothing, bedding, hot-water bottles, towels, etc., for a Catholic Children's Home at Breda. At the same time there was a request from the Chairman of the European Regional Office of U.N.R.R.A. as to what we could do in the way of clothing and blankets for distressed areas in Europe.

Mr. Walshe said that he felt that our attitude about applications of this kind should be to give only where we have a surplus to give. It had to be remembered that these countries would get supplies from the U.S.A. He also said that, as regards the hospital unit which the Red Cross Society proposed to send to France, the British authorities had made it clear that the unit would not be sent at their expense and that they were not prepared to provide shipping or even to give navicerts. In reply to the Secretary, Mr. Walshe said that the British Representative had said that Britain would take any surplus which we had and said that he thought that public opinion in Great Britain would not be pleased by our sending supplies to Europe.

A discussion then took place on the proposal of the Irish Red Cross Society to send 1,000 tons of potatoes to France. It was mentioned that the Society had written direct to the British authorities for permission to get 20,000 sacks from Britain and that they had been granted this permission. It appeared that they had interpreted a letter from the Department of Industry and Commerce about sacks as conveying approval for a direct approach to the British authorities. The Department of Agriculture had agreed to the export of the potatoes. It was mentioned that the decision to permit the export of potatoes had proved embarrassing in connection with the proposal to obtain some tea from Great Britain in exchange for potatoes. After some discussion it was agreed that in future the Red Cross Society should work through the Department of Supplies even for commodities with which other Departments were concerned, that all requests received by the Department of External Affairs would be sent to this Department and not to the Red Cross Society, and that care should be taken not to convey either directly or by implication, any suggestion that the Society should approach the British authorities direct. As regards the potatoes for France, it was thought that this might have been discussed with the Department of Supplies early in 1944 in connection with the Red Cross appeal to farmers to grow potatoes for them – this point is to be cleared up.

As regards the two particular applications under consideration, it was decided that, in view of the shortage of supplies and the attitude of the British authorities, the request from the Queen of the Netherlands should be rejected, Mr. Walshe remarking that it might be no harm to let all concerned see that we were also in difficulties about supplies of clothing and equipment of this kind. Regarding the request from U.N.R.R.A., the Secretary pointed out that Sir Frederick Leith Ross³ had stated in his letter that there was no hope of getting supplies from England and it was, of course, a fact that we were largely dependent on the British for our supplies of clothing. Mr. Walshe said that another point to be considered was that we would get no credit for any supplies which we sent through U.N.R.R.A. and that that organisation was not very popular with the Governments of the liberated countries in Europe. He thought that anything which we did should be carried out direct with the Governments concerned or through the Red Cross Society. It was agreed that letters of refusal should be sent to the Irish Red Cross Society who should also be informed that replies to U.N.R.R.A. and to the Queen of the Netherlands would be sent by the Department of External Affairs.

Mr. Shanagher referred to the practice of permitting the Red Cross Society to send parcels to prisoners of war whose next-of-kin resided in this country and to the recent practice of permitting religious houses, etc., to send small parcels to sister houses in Europe. Mr. Walshe suggested that, if these parcels did not represent any drain on our supplies, we could continue to decide applications on their merits, but, in view of the attitude of the British authorities, he would be opposed to organised collections. He mentioned that the Belgian Minister had been making appeals for clothing in the bulletin of the Belgian Legation and said that he would try to get this practice discontinued.

It was agreed that, as we were committed to the export of 1,000 tons of potatoes to France, this material might be allowed to proceed.