§ 4. Mr. Emmottasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether the subjects discussed at the meetings held in January between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and His Majesty's Government in Eire included the subject of the constitutional position established by the Constitution which came into force on 29th December and by certain Acts passed in the Parliament of the Irish Free State immediately after the abdication of His Majesty King Edward VIII?
§ Mr. EmmottCan my right hon. Friend say what is the reason for that? Is it that there was nothing more to be said, or is it that there was so much to be said that there would be no time to say it?
Mr. MacDonaldI think my hon. Friend will remember that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom made a statement defining its attitude towards the latest constitutional development in Eire on the day following the coming into effect of the new Eire Constitution.
§ Lieut.-Commander AgnewArising out of that reply, has His Majesty's Government 1677 adopted the expression Eire as a correct and official way of describing what was formally known, by treaty, as the Irish Free State?
Mr. MacDonaldI think we are recognising and using the term which the people of Eire have constitutionally adopted.