Memorandum by the Department of External Affairs on David Gray

It must be emphasised that the following points, though established to our satisfaction beyond any doubt, are not capable of being proved in detail to outside parties because, in most cases, the sources of information cannot be revealed.

Our complaints against Mr. Gray are as follows:-

1. From the beginning, he adopted an unreasonably hostile and threatening attitude. In one of his first interviews, he warned us that the United States 'could be very cruel' to any State which stood in the way of American policy. For an example of the way in which he deliberately works against the interest of this country, see Annex B.¹
2. He used his official position to create hostile feeling against this country in the United States by communicating misleading, and, in some cases, false, information to visiting American journalists (see Annex A).² He even handed out to visiting journalists propaganda hostile to the Taoiseach and the Irish Government (e.g., Donal O'Sullivan's book on the Irish Senate).³
3. His conduct of his mission has been un-American and undemocratic. He has cultivated the company of the traditional enemies of democracy in this country - members of the titled Ascendancy known for their hostility to the Government and to Irish democratic opinion.
4. He has discouraged normal official contacts between the staff of the American Legation and Consulate General and the officials of the Department of External Affairs to the point of securing the transfer to other posts of American foreign service officers who continued to maintain such contacts (e.g., Francis Styles, Acting Consul General).
5. He scandalised public opinion in this country by circulating, without the Cardinal's knowledge or permission, a private letter he had written to the Cardinal containing attacks against the Government. He failed to publish the Cardinal's reply.
6. He openly criticised and obstructed official arrangements between the two countries approved by the respective Governments, e.g., the Civil Aviation Agreement, the arrangement for visits of uniformed members of the American forces to Ireland, etc.
7. He misinformed his Government with regard to Irish policy and conditions in this country, and was thereby primarily responsible for what might have been a serious rupture in the relations between Ireland and the United States (cf. Annex A and the American Note asking for the expulsion of the Axis missions).⁴
8. On at least two occasions, he was quoted by American journalists as making outrageously false and hostile statements against the Irish Government in line with his general attitude as disclosed in Annex A and in many personal conversations reported to the Irish authorities. Only his denial of the two reports prevented the serious diplomatic incidents the statements attributed to Mr. Gray would otherwise have occasioned.

We are sure that any impartial examination of Mr. Gray's reports to the State Department will disclose an attitude of constant bias against this country as well as a marked personal hostility to the Head of the Government. Mr. Gray has for a long time been persona non grata to the Irish Government, and only their great reluctance to have anything in the nature of a public breach in their relations with the United States has prevented them from making an official request for his recall.