740A.00/1–653: Despatch
No. 716
The Chargé in Ireland (Huston)1
to the Department of
State
No. 336
In reply to my query a few days ago as to what he considered might be taken as representing changes or developments in Irish foreign policy during 1952, Foreign Minister Aiken stated that there had been no changes or developments, that Irish foreign policy is set and fixed, and that there is not likely to be any change as long as circumstances (i.e., Partition) remain as they are.
Mr. Aiken then went over the same ground that he has covered in our previous conversations on this subject (see, for example, despatch no. 207 of September 21, 19512), the central theme of which is that if the British Government would only make some gesture, if for instance it were to issue a statement to the effect that it recognizes that it would be in the British interest for Ireland to be unified, this would serve as the “germ of yeast” which could begin to work in a small way and gradually develop along the path of closer cooperation and better understanding leading to an eventual solution of the problem.
There has, in fact, been no perceptible change during the past year either in Irish foreign policy in general or with respect to the particular problem of Partition, the dominating factor in Irish policy. Partition continues to constitute the avowed basis for Ireland’s policy of firm neutrality and of non-participation in any program of collective defense such as is represented by NATO or MSA, as well as the principal interest of Irish delegates to international conferences and the background for every action and attitude of the Irish Government in the international field.