Letter from William P. Fay to Brian Gallagher (Stockholm)
(P.168/4) (Secret) (Copy)

Further to my telegrams of the 17th and 18th inst. (the first unnumbered and the second No. 92)¹ concerning the Defence mission to buy military equipment in Sweden, I am sending you herewith by airmail copy of the minute we have just received from the Department of Defence.² It sets out in greater detail the points which I endeavoured to summarise in my telegram of today’s date.

The only thing we should like to add is to emphasise the points made in the second part of that telegram. We think there is some considerable danger that, if it became known that an Irish military mission is endeavouring to obtain equipment from Sweden, we may have suggestions made by various quarters to the Swedish authorities that there is no point in supplying equipment to a country like us in whose hands there would be some danger that it might be used to end Partition or in some other irresponsible way. We think, therefore, that your best course is to confine the mission to contacts with the Swedish military circles which they wish to meet. We should, however, be disposed to leave something to your discretion in this matter since only the man-on-the-spot can sense the actual situation. We should, therefore, see no objection if you felt it desirable that Col. Lawlor³ or his military companions should meet one or two of those of your diplomatic colleagues whom you might consider to have a friendly interest in our affairs.

Personally, I feel that this mission is of considerable importance and I am satisfied from personal experience that Mr. Andell⁴ does not exaggerate when he suggests that the personal contacts which will be made during their stay may lead to better deliveries than we might otherwise get. In the circumstances, we feel that we can rely upon you to do the maximum to make the mission’s visit a success.