'Note for Minister'
in respect of a Parliamentary Question concerning Sir Oswald Mosley

Sir Oswald and Lady Diana Mosley¹ came to this country in February, 1951. They rented Tullamaine Castle, Fethard, Co. Tipperary, and subsequently purchased a property at Clonfert, Co. Galway, which apparently they made their permanent residence.

In May, 1952, Sir Oswald deposited with the Bank of Ireland, Dublin, his American and Canadian securities, which had previously been deposited in Britain, and shortly afterwards we decided, after consultation with the British Exchange Control, to designate him and his family Irish residents for exchange control purposes. The effect of such designation was to place all their non-sterling assets under Irish control.

The various exchange control authorisations accorded to Sir Oswald and Lady Mosley are summarised below:-

As reported in ‘The Irish Times’ of 15 April, 1953, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked in the House of Commons on 14 April if he was aware that British citizens had transferred sterling for the financial help of Walter Naumann³ and other German Nazis. The reply given by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Maudling,⁴ was as follows:-

‘No application has been made to the exchange control authorities to transfer funds for this purpose, nor would I approve applications for purposes which are inconsistent with the national interest’.

In answer to a supplementary question asking if the Chancellor was not aware that Dr. Adenauer had stated that Naumann and other associates were receiving financial aid from Sir Oswald Mosley, Mr. Maudling said:-

‘I understand that Sir Oswald Mosley is a resident of Éire and, therefore, not subject to our exchange controls.’

No exchange control permission was given by the Department of Finance for any payment to Germany by Sir Oswald or Lady Mosley either in sterling or otherwise. It is not possible, however, to say that no such payment was actually made since Sir Oswald has had at his disposal for the past two years Swiss funds, the existence of which came to light only a few months ago in the following circumstances.

Messrs. Griffin, Lynch & Co., Accountants, 26 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, acting on behalf of Sir Oswald Mosley, wrote to this Department on 1 September, 1952, as follows:-

‘Our client carries on a publishing business in Ireland in partnership with his wife, Lady Diana Mosley, under the name of "Euphorian Books", the registered office of the business being at this address.

In connection with their business our clients spend considerable periods in Europe. Sir Oswald holds a contract under which he gives a portion of his time to a Swiss publishing firm, Francois Genoud, Agent Litteraire, Lausanne for a remuneration (including expenses) of 7200 Swiss francs per annum. This sum, however, is barely sufficient to cover his expenses during his visits to Europe on the Swiss firm’s business and that of his own firm.

Our client has not up to the present operated any banking accounts in Europe and permission is sought to enable him to open an account with Barclays (Overseas) Bank at their Paris Branch.’

In our reply of 17 December, 1952, we directed attention to the fact that, as an Irish resident Sir Oswald was obliged by the Exchange Control Orders to offer for sale to the Minister through a bank in the State any Swiss currency which might come into his possession. We requested that Sir Oswald and Lady Mosley should apply through a bank or travel agency in the State for whatever foreign exchange facilities they required in connection with their business visits abroad, whether on behalf of Monsieur Genoud or their own publishing firm. We added that Irish residents were not permitted to maintain bank accounts outside the sterling area, except where evidence was furnished of exceptional circumstances which would involve undue hardship if the concession were not granted.

Messrs. Griffin, Lynch & Co. on 10 March, 1953, renewed the request for an account in a French bank saying that Sir Oswald might be required to travel on short notice, the duration of his visits depending entirely on the instructions of his principals. They added that the normal procedure of applying for foreign exchange facilities in respect of each visit would appear impractical in his case.

After further consideration we indicated on 27 March, 1953 that we were prepared to allow Sir Oswald to operate a bank account in Paris for a trial period of one year subject to certain conditions, the object of which was to secure proper supervision of the account and to ensure that it would be drawn on only for approved purposes. Grant of permission was subject to the acceptance by Sir Oswald in writing of those conditions. Such acceptance was received on 18 April, 1953, but formal authorisation for the operation of the account has not yet been issued.

When these facilities were under consideration, there was nothing to indicate that Sir Oswald had used or intended to use the funds emanating from Switzerland for unauthorised purposes. A factor that was taken into account by us in deciding to accede to his request was that he is a man of considerable wealth and should be encouraged to retain his Irish domicile.

In view of the latest developments it cannot be overlooked that the Swiss funds at his disposal during the past two years might have been used by him to aid political friends in Germany, but if such occurred the transfers were made without our knowledge or consent.