Letter from Valentin Iremonger to William B. Butler (Dublin)
(318/69)

Mr. Butler:
The question of our representation in South Africa is a thorny one and I would be slow to urge that we should come to any decision about it at the present time. The cross-currents that bedevil the political situation in South Africa today are such that an Irish representative would find it extremely difficult to steer a straight course and he would, I imagine, no matter how careful he was, be bound to attach to himself the hostility of some sections of the population. It would not by any means be an easy mission and the upshot of it might be that the undoubted goodwill towards Ireland which exists among the Afrikaaner, Native and Indian sections of the population would be dissipated to some extent. The colour prejudice which exists in South Africa seems to be even more virulent than it is in America, and as the coloured races have always looked to Ireland as being in the vanguard of the fight against imperialist exploitation and as Ireland's struggle has always been in the nature of an inspiration for them, it would be a pity if, through no fault of whatever representative we would appoint, this goodwill among the coloured races was to diminish. Any diminution in the respect for Ireland held by coloured races in Africa would have repercussions in, for instance, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma and Indonesia. Such a diminution might easily be occasioned quite unwittingly by our representative in the carrying out of the social side of his duties.

If I am dubious about the advisability of de carrière (diplomatic or consular) representation in South Africa at the present moment, I am opposed to any kind of official honorary representation. South African citizens by the very fact of their citizenship and the probability of their purposing to permanently reside in the country would be committed politically one way or another. Even Irishmen who have been living there for many years (and there are many such as R.J. Scott-Hayward,¹ Eamon Brugha, Eamon O Cleirigh and Michael Cassidy to name but a few) could not help but be known for their views on the internal politics of South Africa. (I recall that we almost gave a Mr. M.C. Avis an appointment as Honorary Consul: we only found out in time that his daughter was married to the son of the Permanent Under-Secretary of the British Foreign Office). There is, in this connection, however, in South Africa, just now, where he emigrated for health reasons, Mr. Charles O'Connor, who was Private Secretary to Dr. Noel Browne, the Minister for Health - it is possible that he might be suitable if such an appointment were insisted upon but we would need to be satisfied as to his present standing. The suggestion made by Mr. Scott-Hayward for the appointment of an Information Officer does not commend itself in present circumstances either.

For the present, I think we should continue the supply of information and the distribution of literature unofficially through Irish people in the Union. We can easily get the names of further people in various parts of the country and send them good supplies of documentation. We have managed up to this without any official appointment and, in spite of the repeated representations made to us by the four people mentioned above, I see no reason why we cannot carry on in this fashion for another few years at any rate. By doing so, we are sure of the sympathy and continued goodwill of the various races in the Union; a definite appointment at the present stage might change that position.