Extracts from the minutes of 'Establishments Conference No. 11'

PRESENT: Secretary; Assistant Secretary; Mr. Gallagher.

1. POSITION OF MR. SEÁN LESTER:
The Secretary said that he felt that the Taoiseach would not wish to bring any pressure to bear on Mr. Lester. It might be that, in saying he was ready to come back to work in the Department, he was 'bluffing', but he felt sure the Taoiseach would not like his bluff to be called. Mr. Lester, he felt, would not be satisfied with a Counsellorship. It was, indeed, doubtful whether he would be satisfied with an Assistant Secretaryship or a Ministership abroad.

Mr. Gallagher said that he had been informed by Mr. Fitzgerald of the Department of Finance that they had taken legal advice on their attitude that a pension must be calculated on the last salary a man actually drew and not on the present salary of his post and they were satisfied that there was no way around this. In these circumstances, the Secretary felt that the best solution would be if Mr. Lester could be retired on the basis contemplated by the Department of Finance and given some honorary or part-time post to make up what he would lose thereby. He said he would talk to Mr. Seán Moynihan about this.

[matter omitted]

5. HONORARY CONSULS:
The Secretary said he thought that we should draft a questionnaire designed to elicit all necessary information about candidates for Honorary Consular posts.

Honorary Consular posts seem to fall into three categories:-

• The Mission countries, where our principal interest would be the protection of Irish missionaries. In these countries, the best procedure might be, the Secretary thought, to write in confidence to the missionary Orders asking them to make suggestions. These countries are the Philippine Islands, Burma, India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Trinidad. The Assistant Secretary said he could write to Bishop Mulligan, Capuchin Bishop of Delhi and that he could speak to Mr. Archer of the British Office with regard to the appointment of an Irish Consul in Trinidad. The Secretary thought that we might ask the Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington to enquire as to the possibility of making such appointments in Japan and Korea;
• The Irish-American Group. The Secretary said it had been decided to offer Honorary Consularships to Mr. Cousins in New Orleans and Mr. Scott in Los Angeles. He thought that the Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington should be asked whether any of Mr. Frank P. Walsh's sons in Kansas City would be suitable for appointment there.
• The cities in which our interests would be mainly or largely commercial. In these cases our diplomatic representative, if there was one in the same country, should make enquiries as to suitable appointees. In general, they should consult the Foreign Office, the local Mayor, the President of the local Chamber of Commerce, the Clergy, etc. They should avoid, in general, persons connected with shipping lines engaged in rivalry with Irish Shipping Ltd.