Eire and the Submarines
Mr. Lees-Smith called attention last week to one aspect of Eire's neutrality which deserves to be more widely known than it is. At present a very high proportion of the British mer- cantile tonnage sunk by German submarines is sunk off the outer coasts of Eire. It is so because, owing to the absence of British naval and air bases, the submarines can operate there with comparative impunity. The Anglo-Irish Treaty provided for the retention of certain Imperial bases within the Free ;State. But with a view to conciliating Irish feeling these were subsequently evacuated—the last not many years ago. The assumption then was that in the event of war Eire would act like the rest of the British Commonwealth. The bases would be hers, but they would be available for the common defence of our islands. That they are not, emphasises the anomaly and the moral indefensibility of her subsequent recourse to neutral status. Nothing has saved her from the fate of Belgium and Holland but the British navy and the British mercantile marine, and yet her attitude to both is one of injurious non-co-operation. Incidentally it must tend to perpetuate the separation of Northern Ireland. For seriously as our anti-submarine defence is now obstructed, it would be much worse if we had not naval bases and aerodromes in the six counties.
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