Extracts from a memorandum for Government by
the Department of the Taoiseach
'European Free Trade Area'

1. At a meeting held on the 9th October, 1956,¹ the Government decided that, acting under the direction of the Taoiseach, the Secretaries of the Department of External Affairs, Industry and Commerce, Agriculture, Finance and the Taoiseach should examine the probable effect on Ireland’s interests of an association between the proposed Customs and Economic Union and the other member countries of OEEC. An interim report of the Committee of Secretaries is attached.²

[matter omitted]

4. The recommendations contained in the interim report of the Committee of Secretaries may be summarised as follows:-
   1. no commitment in regard to the European Free Trade Area should be entered into until
      1. every possibility has been explored of securing adequate safeguards as a country in process of economic development (paragraph 20) and
      2. views from interests concerned are available (paragraph 1);
   2. the attitude which Ireland should take at the meeting on the 12th February of the Council of OEEC, at which the proposal to form the Free Trade Area will be considered, should be as follows:
      1. we should resist any attempt to treat us – and other countries in process of economic development – as observers, whether at the meeting or at subsequent negotiations in connexion with the Area (paragraph 32);
      2. we should adopt an attitude of reserve towards the British proposal to exclude agriculture (including drink and tobacco), whether that exclusion relates to British agriculture alone or to agriculture generally (paragraph 27);
      3. we should not oppose further study of the question of the harmonisation of economic, financial and social policies, but we should reserve our position if the Council takes firm decisions on the question, on the grounds that the problems have not yet been sufficiently studied to justify the Council in arriving at firm conclusions (paragraph 28);
      4. we should actively support, and canvass support for, any suitable proposals for the provision of mutual assistance through investment and re-adaptation funds or otherwise (paragraph 29); and
      5. we should actively support, and canvass support for, the grant of special treatment to countries in process of economic development (paragraph 30);
   3. we should not take the initiative in discussing, as an alternative to joining the Area, the possibility of special bilateral arrangements with Britain or with the proposed Customs and Economic Union, until it becomes clear whether special arrangements, which would enable us to enter the Free Trade Area, will be conceded (paragraph 33); and
   4. we should not ask for discussions with Britain, regarding the implications of the formation of the Free Trade Area in so far as the Trade Agreements with Britain are concerned, in advance of the OEEC Council Meeting on the 12th February but we should be ready at any opportune time after that date to enter into such discussions and the Departments concerned should accordingly undertake forthwith the necessary examination of this matter (paragraph 33).

5. The Taoiseach agrees with the recommendations in the interim report of the Committee of Secretaries and recommends that the Government should approve them.
6. The Taoiseach considers – and recommends that the Government should approve – that our representative at the meeting of the Council of OEEC on the 12th February should make a statement on the following general lines:-

   ‘In accordance with her general attitude to movements by European countries towards closer economic association, Ireland welcomes the proposal to form a European Free Trade Area. While her attitude to the question of participating in the Area will, as in the case of other countries, be determined in the light of considerations of her own national interests, Ireland views with sympathy this latest movement towards closer association among European countries and wishes the proposal every success.’