§ 24. Mr. MARJORIBANKSasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs by whom, and at what date, the Irish Treaty was registered at Geneva; and, in view of the protest made by His Majesty's Government, what is the present position of the treaty as regards registration?
§ Sir J. SIMONIn July, 1924, the Irish Free State representative at Geneva on behalf of his Government deposited for registration the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty signed on the 6th of December, 1921. In November of the same year His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom informed the Secretary-General of the League of Nations that in their opinion the terms of Article 18 of the Covenant are not applicable to the Articles of Agreement signed on the 6th of December, 1921. In 1926 His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State deposited for registration with the League of Nations the Agreement of the 3rd December, 1925, which amended and supplemented the Articles of Agreement of the 6th of December, 1921. His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom thereupon notified the League of Nations that they held the same views as regards the inapplicability of Article 18 of the Covenant in this case as they held in the case of Articles of Agreement of 1921.
§ Mr. MARJORIBANKSMay I ask my right hon. Friend whether it is not a fact that the only sanction to this Treaty embodied in a British Act of Parliament is the Constitution of the Irish Free State; and whether there is any international sanction for this Treaty whatever?