Letter from Frederick H. Boland to Josephine McNeill (The Hague)

With reference to your report of the 27th June¹ about your conversation with the British Ambassador on the subject of Partition, the Minister would be glad if, in any further conversation you may have on the subject, you would press home the point that Ireland is a pivotal position in the scheme of North Atlantic defence and that the refusal of the North Atlantic powers to close the gap by putting an end to a situation which is utterly indefensible in the light of the principles which the western world is concerned to protect and preserve, is ridiculous and illogical.

You might bear in mind the answer the Minister gave in his introductory speech on the Vote for External Affairs to the argument, so often used by British propagandists, that it is wrong for Ireland to be pushing the question of Partition at a time when the survival of western civilisation itself is in jeopardy.² Another point to be borne in mind is that the Government's policy in relation to the North Atlantic Pact is not peculiar to itself, but is supported by the Opposition in the Dáil, as made clear by the Leader of the Opposition.³