![]() When the plenipotentiaries came back they were sought to be put in the dock. ![]() I feel my responsibility to the Irish people, and the Irish people must know, and know in every detail, the difference that exists between us, and the Irish people must be our judges. We owe responsibility to the Irish people. Does all this quibble of words -because it is merely a quibble of words-mean that Ireland is asked to throw away this Treaty and go back to war? So far as my power or voice extends, not one young Irishman's life shall be lost on that quibble. They are prepared to go into the Empire for war and peace and treaties, and to keep out for other matters, and that is what the Irish people have got to know is the difference. ![]() They are prepared to go half in the Empire and half out. The gentlemen on the other side are prepared to recognise the King of England as head of the British Commonwealth. What we have to say is this, that the difference in this Cabinet and in this House is between half-recognising the British King and the British Empire, and between marching in, as one of the speakers said, with our heads up. What am I to do? What am I to say? Am I to keep my mouth shut and let the Irish people think about this uncompromising rock? The President does not wish this document to be read. We went there to see how to reconcile the two positions, and I hold we have done it. If it had been made we knew it would have been refused. In the letters that preceded the negotiations not once was a demand made for recognition of the Irish Republic. It has been stated also here that the man who made this position, the man who won the war-Michael Collins- compromised Ireland's rights. An effort has been made outside to represent that a certain number of men stood uncompromisingly on the rock of the Republic-the Republic, and no thing but the Republic. Now, the President- and I am in a difficult position-does not wish a certain document referred to read. We are here, not as the dictators of the Irish people, but as the representatives of the Irish people, and if we misrepresent the Irish people, then the moral authority of Dáil Eireann, the strength behind it, and the fact that Dáil Eireann spoke the voice of the Irish people, is gone, and gone for ever. I hold that it is, and I hold that the Irish people-that 95 per cent. It is for the Irish people-who are our masters (hear, hear), not our servants as some think-it is for the Irish people to say whether it is good enough. I signed that Treaty not as the ideal thing, but fully believing, as I believe now, it is a treaty honourable to Ireland, and safeguards the vital interests of Ireland.Īnd now by that Treaty I am going to stand, and every man with a scrap of honour who signed it is going to stand. The responsibility is on our shoulders we took the responsibility in London and we take the responsibility in Dublin. We did not seek to act as the plenipotentiaries other men were asked and other men refused. We could have shirked the responsibility. We faced that task we knew that whatever happened we would have our critics, and we made up our minds to do whatever was right and disregard whatever criticism might occur. That task which was given to us was as hard as was ever placed on the shoulders of men. We were to go there to reconcile our aspirations with the association of the community of nations known as the British Empire. Nearly three months ago Dáil Eireann appointed plenipotentiaries to go to London to treat with the British Government and to make a bargain with them. ![]() "That Dáil Eireann approves of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed in London on December 6th, 1921." While I shall so far as I can respect President de Valera's wish, I am not going to hide from the Irish people what the alternative is that is proposed. It is not a question of courtesy it is not a question of the rules of procedure it is a question of the lives and fortunes of the people of Ireland. Appearing before an Oireachtas committee.
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