No. 141 NAI DFA/6/408/191/5
Memorandum for Government by the Department of External Affairs
'Commonwealth Financial and Economic Conference'
Dublin, 9 September 1952
- On the 29th July, 1952, the British Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that he had invited the other Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth to meet in London in the latter part of November to ‘review together the pressing issues of financial, commercial and economic policy with which our several Governments are faced’ and that his invitations had been accepted, although South Africa and India would not be represented by their Premiers. Mr. Churchill added that arrangements would also be made for the representation of the Colonial Territories and that the Conference would be preceded by preparatory discussions between officials of the Commonwealth countries.
- No Agenda for the Conference has yet been published but the British Chancellor of the Exchequer1 has stated that it is the intention ‘in these official and Prime Ministerial discussions to survey every aspect of financial, commercial and economic problems including the system of imperial preference, and to consider together what part various international organisations and agencies should play in the solution of our problems’. The preliminary meeting of officials is expected to take place this month and efforts are being made to obtain as much information as possible concerning these meetings, including the subjects discussed and the views expressed by the representatives of the different countries concerned.
- No invitation to attend the conference has been received by the Irish Government [and] the Ambassador at London reports that, in the course of a conversation at the Foreign Office, it was remarked to him that, ‘being no longer associated with the Commonwealth, Ireland will hardly be represented at the Conference.’ The Ambassador adds, however, that the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Commonwealth Relations Office has suggested that some of the matters discussed at the Conference will probably be of interest to Ireland and has expressed the hope that it will be possible to arrange a ‘parallel’ exchange of views with the Irish Government as was done after the meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers in January of this year. A formal proposal for such an exchange of views has not yet been made.
- Having regard to the importance for Ireland of the decisions which may be taken at the Commonwealth Financial and Economic Conference, the Minister for External Affairs considers it highly desirable that an exchange of views with the British Government concerning the results of the Conference should take place and he accordingly proposes to instruct the Ambassador at London to indicate to the British authorities concerned that the Irish Government would welcome such an exchange of views. He requests the authority of the Government for this course of action.
- The Ministers for Finance, Agriculture and Industry and Commerce agree with the proposal of the Minister for External Affairs.2
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