Letter from Michael Rynne to John J. Hearne (Washington DC)
(318/21) (Secret) (Copy)

As you are aware, an Australian Ambassador has been appointed to Ireland in the person of Mr. Dominic Paul McGuire. The Irish Government’s agrément for the appointment has been granted and the news was released by the Australian Government some little time ago.

The forms of title of the President and of the name of the State which are to be used on the Letter of Credence for Mr. McGuire are at present under discussion between ourselves and the Australian authorities. We insist upon the use of the constitutional title ‘President of Ireland’, but the Australians have proposed to base their Ambassador’s Letter of Credence on forms which are used in the Letters of Credence exchanged between Britain and ourselves involving the use on the one side of the term ‘President Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh’ and compelling on the other side the use of the term ‘Queen Elizabeth II’. As we have intimated our willingness to accept the Queen’s new Australian title on the Letter of Credence for Mr. McGuire and to use it in future on Letters intended for Australia – if the Australians adopt ‘President of Ireland’ – we consider that the Australian proposal is in effect asking us to call the Queen out of her Australian name. You will observe from the attached papers¹ that the Ambassador at Canberra has been instructed to stress particularly this point.

The Minister feels that you should be fully conversant with this matter in case you meet Senator O’Sullivan, Australian Minister for Trade and Customs, during his visit to Washington in the course of the next few weeks.

The Minister also thinks that it might be useful, subject to your own view, that you should have a chat with your Canadian colleague, Mr. Hume Wrong,² who we understand is to replace Mr. Wilgress³ as Secretary of the Department of External Affairs at Ottawa.

The position in regard to the accredition of Mr. Turgeon will be made clear to you by the copies of correspondence between the Department and the Embassy at Ottawa which are enclosed herewith. There is, of course, no question of re-opening the case of Mr. Turgeon and, so far as Canada is concerned, we have in mind simply the general question of the title to be used on Letters of Credence exchanged in future between Ireland and Canada. It is to be hoped that the Canadian authorities will implement the verbal assurance which Mr. Wilgress gave to Mr. Seán Murphy that there will be no difficulty about using the constitutional title of the President – now that the new royal title for Canada has come into force – on Letters of Credence presented here in the future.

Mr. Seán Murphy is at present on leave but we have sent a minute dated 23rd July to the Chargé d’Affaires at Ottawa of which a copy is enclosed herewith giving him an idea of the position.⁴