Extract from a despatch from T.M. Healy to J.H. Thomas (London)
(No. 207)

Sir,

I have the honour to refer to your Despatches, Dominions No. 89 of the 29th February and No. 141 of 3rd March, relating to the Treaty of Lausanne,¹ and to inform you that having studied the Treaty with attention my Ministers have not found that any general or particular interests of the Irish Free State are affected by its terms. This is presumably the reason why my Ministers were not given an opportunity of participating in the negotiations.

2. My Ministers while anxious that the state of war, in so far as it may be held to exist between the States of the Commonwealth and the Turkish people, should be brought to an end with the least possible delay, do not feel called upon to submit the Treaty itself to the Parliament of the Irish Free State with a view to ratification, more especially as the position of the Irish Free State as a party to the Treaty and in particular to Article 18 of the Straits Convention might involve her in action which would be inconsistent with Article 49 of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. In the circumstances, my Ministers do not wish the Treaty to be ratified on their behalf.

3. With regard to the Conventions annexed to the Treaty, my Ministers desire that the Irish Free State should be formally excluded from the Convention respecting conditions of Residence and Business, and from the Commercial Convention.

[Matter omitted]