Danger to Eire
Eire is alive to the fact that her island position gives her no immunity from the dangers of war and attempted invasion. She is well aware that Germany aims at securing control of every country which looks at Britain across the sea, and that with Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Northern France in her hands, Ireland is now the only near neighbour of Britain which has not suffered invasion. It is even possible that the direct attack on Ireland may occur before the attack on Great Britain herself. The menace has had the effect of bringing together the three principal parties, and last Sunday Mr. de Valera, Mr. Cosgrave, and Mr. W. Norton, Labour leader in the Dail, appeared on the same platform at a recruit- ing rally in Dublin. In making an appeal to the country to pre- pare quickly for whatever might befall Mr. de Valera spoke sadly of the Achilles who was still sulking in his tent, by which, it is to be presumed, he was alluding not to the fierce men of the I.R.A., but to Northern Ireland. United and determined action within Eire to resist the common enemy might provide just the atmosphere favourable to a future union of all Ireland. This is a moment when the essential community of interest between Great Britain and Eire becomes palpable. If aid were wanted it might well be that the latter would prefer it at the hands of . Dominion troops rather than British. But if she contemplates such co-operation it is essential to seek it before it is too late.
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