IRELAND

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 August 1924, Page 5

IRELAND

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. STATEMENT BY MR. DUGGAN. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received Aug. 22, 10.25 a.m LONDON, Aug. 21. Mr. E>. J. Duggan, one ot* the signatories of the Anglo-Irish treaty, referring to the assertion that Northern Ireland was not consulted in the treaty settlement, emphasised that when the treaty negotiations were in progress the Irish plenipotentiaries claimed all Ireland as the proper unit of Government, but were compelled to recognise the fact of the existence of a section of “our people” who disagreed, at present at any rate, with the majority’s aims. The British and Irish plenipotentiaries at first endeavoured to work out a. scheme for the unification of Ireland, involving a continuance of local self-government in the North-East. The representatives of Northern Ireland, however, refused point-blank to enter upon discussions unless this proposal was withdrawn. When it is said that the North was not consulted it should be remembered this was mainly due to its refusal, even to consider possible lines of a settlement. It was clearly understood that the purpose of the commission was not merely to rectify an inconvenient border, but to prevent the infliction of an avoidable injustice oil ■the people desiring to remain in the Eree State. The Irish signatories held and expressed this view from the first. Moreover, the same interpretation was plainly put forward by Lord Birkenhead and Mr. Lloyd George.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.