EIRE PREMIER’S HOPES FOR IRISH UNITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22698, 24 July 1948, Page 5

EIRE PREMIER’S HOPES FOR IRISH UNITY

(11 a.m.) _ LONDON, July 23. The Premier of Eire, Mr. J. Costello, speaking in the Bail, said that the interests of Northern Ireland, and also of Britain, the United States and western Europe demanded that there should be a united Ireland, especially if there should be war within the next five years.

“I must speak without reserve, but I feel that for the first time since 1922 there appears to be some hope of se-

curing a united Ireland because of the advances made." Mr. Costello did not indicate the nature of the advances. Eire’s External Affairs Minister, Mr. Sean Macßride, said in Paris today that there was no Question of Eire joining the Western Union while Ireland was partitioned. Mr. Macßride arrived in Paris for talks between the countries receiving American aid. Northern Ireland’s Retort

Northern Ireland’s acting-Premier, Mr. J. M. Sinclair, commenting on Mr. Costello's statement, said he was amazed at the suggestion that a united Ireland was demanded in the interests of the countries which believed in Christian principles. Eire’s neutrality record in the last war was not one to inspire confidence in the part she would be willing to play in the next war.