John O'Byrne to William T. Cosgrave (Dublin)¹3
(1410/24)

Re: Registration of Treaty.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of maintaining our position as based upon the Treaty and not on legislation. For this reason, it would be highly desirable that the Treaty should be registered, and I would be strongly in favour of registering same if I thought there would be no difficulty about the matter. The matter, however, is of such vital importance that I think careful enquiries should be made before we take any step with a view to registration. I do not suppose anybody would oppose our application - unless the British authorities do so, but I have no knowledge as to what their attitude would probably be or as to the extent of their powers of blocking our application. If we applied and, through opposition from the British Authorities or otherwise, the application was unsuccessful, I think it would have a very disastrous effect upon our whole position. For this reason, I think the application should be made only after careful enquiry and consideration.