AN INDEPENDENT EIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1938, Page 7

AN INDEPENDENT EIRE

DE VALERA’S ASPIRATION NECESSITY FOR A STRONG BRITAIN. CORDIAL REFERENCE TO PRESENT GOVERNMENT. (Recd This Day, 10.5 a.m.) LONDON, April 27. Mr de Valera, in the Dail, said: “It is necessary for me to stress the importance of the Anglo-Eire Agreement from the viewpoint of Irish sovereignty. I believe it is only a matter of time before somebody from this bench will be able to announce that Ireland has become a completely independent sovereign State. I would not be asking for approval if I thought the agreement an obstacle to it.” Mr de Valera added that if they looked at the map of Europe, they would see why a strong Britain was necessary, not to open attack with Eire as a back door. There had been a time when he, like many Irishmen, had wished Ireland were 500 miles farther out in the Atlantic. No one today wished that the positions of the islands could be changed. The present British Government was the wisest he had known, because it recognised the value of a free and independent Ireland. VALUE OF NEW AGREEMENTS BASIS FOR CO-OPERATION (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 26. Both Mr Chamberlain and Mr MacDonald were warmly cheered in the House of Commons on their first appearance after signing of the AngloEire agreements, which, in stating that legislation would shortly be introduced, Mr Chamberlain said the United Kingdom Government believed would lead to closer friendship and co-operation between the peoples and Governments of the two countries. Mr de Valera, on reaching Eire, is reported to have told the reporters that he believed the agreements would prove advantageous to both countries, and that he confidently recommended them to the acceptance of the people of Eire.