At a meeting held on the 5 January, 1971, the government agreed thatthe title of the Minister for External Affairs in the English language,should be changed to ‘Minister for Foreign Affairs’ and the title ofhis department, in the English language, should be changed to‘Department of Foreign Affairs’. The meeting also authorised theMinister to have an … Read more
Few terms cause as much annoyance to Irish ears as the title ‘BritishIsles’. In 1951 the Minister for External Affairs, Seán MacBride,complained because particulars relating to Ireland were entered underthe heading ‘British Isles’ in a table in the Economic Bulletin forEurope published by the United Nations in Geneva. He considered ‘theinclusion of Ireland under this … Read more
Cold War paranoia and hunger for new markets clashed in governmentdisscussions in 1971 on the desirability of establishing diplomaticlinks with the Soviet Union and Poland. In a memorandum of 28 October1971 the cabinet was informed: The Minister for Foreign Affairs [Dr Patrick Hillery] considers thatthe establishment of formal relations with at least some of the … Read more
A secret memorandum, prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs forthe minister, Dr Patrick Hillery, dated 21 June 1971, provided ‘a briefanalysis of the present Nothern Ireland situation’. The Department felt that ‘the short-term objective, that of forcingsuch institutional and other changes in the North as will break defacto and permanently the Unionist hegemony, needs … Read more
During a visit to Dublin on 5 February 1971 James Callaghan MP, former Labour British Home Secretary, met with Dr Patrick Hillery, Minister for External Affairs. Mr Callaghan began by attempting to ascertain Dr Hillery’s ‘view on the cause of the present troubles’. Dr Hillery stated ‘that the basic cause was the 1920 “solution”’. He … Read more