IRELAND’S OATH

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1932, Page 7

IRELAND’S OATH

ITS ABOLITION OPPOSED SENATE REJECTS MEASURE NEGOTIATIONS favoured DE VALERA’S PLAN HELD UP A DEADLOCK ANTICIPATED By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Dublin, June 8. The Senate by 30 votes to 22 defeated 'Section 2 of the Oath Bill, which repeals Section 2 of the Constitution Act, whereby the treaty was made superior to the Constitution and any legislation repugnant to the treaty was declared null and void. It also rejected by 31 votes to 20 Section 3, which amends Article 50 of the Constitution by deleting the reference to the treaty.

Senator Milroy’s amendment proposing that the Bill should not come into force until the Anglo-Irish Governments reached an agreement was carried by 33 votes to 22, and the Bill passed the committee alage.

The Senate’s amendments amount to technical nullification of the Bill and involve a probable deadlock, thus holding up the Bill for 18 months. Mr. de Valera has informed the Senate that the Free State Government has not changed its attitude towards the oath and saw no reason why the Senate should not continue its discussion of the Abolition Bill. He added that he could not accept the amendment suggesting that the Bill should not come into force until the Anglo-Irish 'Governments had reached an agreement. The Central News Agency says that Mr. de Valera’s reported suggestion for the incorporation of Ulster into the Free State finds no favour in the north of Ireland. The Government of Ulster and the majority of the people are absolutely opposed to the suggestion. At a British Cabinet meeting Mr. J. H. Thomas and Lord Hailsham reported that their discussions with Mr. de Valera and the Irish Free State Ministers were of a preliminary character, and the conversations would be continued on Friday when Mr. de Valera would visit London for that purpose. It is understood that the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, will participate in Friday’s discussions. The Sun learns that nothing more tangible than contact, with the friendliest relations, has thus far resulted from the Thomas-De Valera conversations. There waa no foundation in either the reported deadlock or high hopes. The delegates put their case frankly and lengthily, but the conversations were only a preliminary and neither side attempted to commit itself. A big gulf clearly remains to be bridged, and a compromise will be very difficult.