Irish delegation to Anglo-Irish Trade and Sterling Area Talks
Meeting to discuss talks, tactics and overall strategy

At 9.30 a.m. a meeting of the Irish Delegation was held in the Office of the High Commissioner. The notes which had been prepared by the Departments of Agriculture and Industry and Commerce for the Commonwealth Relations Office were considered. It was agreed that the notes prepared by the Department of Industry and Commerce were satisfactory provided that it is made quite clear at the next meeting with the British that the requirements set out in those notes are not optima, but have in fact been scaled down, and also that the list is not intended to be a statement of our full requirements of raw materials from Great Britain but only a statement of our requirements of certain important raw materials about the supply of which from Great Britain there are difficulties at present. Doubt was expressed as to whether the notes prepared by the Department of Agriculture were adequate inasmuch as they did not indicate very clearly what return could be made to Britain if our requirements as regards prices and supplies of fertilisers were met. There was a good deal of discussion from which it emerged that the problem was really a long-term one. It would be about three years before additional production of cattle could be reflected in increased exports of stores and fat cattle to Great Britain. An immediate contribution could be made, however, by sending 100,000 cattle to Britain for immediate slaughter, but this would have the effect of curtailing supplies for the next three years. It was mentioned that the general effect of the slump in cattle exports had been to leave us with a very high proportion of aged stock. The importance was stressed of ensuring that we were not put on the wrong foot in the discussions by any drive on the Treasury's part to concentrate discussion on dollar savings, or supplies for supplies, and to ignore the question of improving our over-all position by giving us reasonable supplies of goods we needed from Britain for home consumption.