Letter from Maurice Moynihan to Seán Murphy (Dublin)
(Copy)

In connection with the meeting of Working Party No. 17 of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, to be held on the 26th instant, I learned on Friday, the 23rd instant, that the Ambassador in Paris¹ desired to have an indication of the attitude of the home authorities on the question of our participation in the discussions of the Working Party. In this connection, the Taoiseach approved, subject to the concurrence of the other members of the Government concerned, the following draft statement, to which you had agreed, of the line to be followed by our representatives of the Working Party:

Generally, we should maintain an attitude of reserve, and we need not take any very active part in the proceedings of the Working Party. At the same time, we may let it be seen that, in principle, we are favourably, rather than unfavourably, disposed towards the idea of a European Free Trade Area. We may also lend support to the devising of escape clauses for countries whose economies are not fully developed and, particularly, for countries in which an unusually low proportion of productive resources is devoted to manufacturing industry.

The foregoing draft statement was accepted by the Minister for Finance. Dempsey² suggested that the second sentence of the draft should be modified by inserting the word ‘considering’ before ‘the idea of a European Free Trade Area’. The Department of Industry and Commerce informed me, however, that their Minister was not prepared to agree to the inclusion of the second sentence, even in a modified form, and, further, that he desired the third sentence to be amended by substituting the words ‘We should lend every support’ for ‘We may also lend support’ at the beginning of the sentence. I gave the text, amended in accordance with the wishes of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, by telephone to your Private Secretary, and I understand that it was conveyed to the Ambassador in Paris on Saturday, the 24th instant.

From what you told me in the course of a telephone conversation today, I understand that the Ambassador has since raised the question of our stating our attitude towards the use of import levies as a means of dealing with balance of payments problems. No doubt, he has noted the reference to this matter on page 4 of the report of the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries held on the 8th instant. In this connection, perhaps it should be pointed out that the general directive – that we should maintain an attitude of reserve and need not take any very active part in the proceedings – does not mean that our representatives should take no active part whatever. The word ‘very’ was included advisedly.