§ 3.50 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF LONGFORDMy Lords, with the permission of the House, I should like to repeat a Statement which my right honourable friend the Prime Minister has just made in another place, on the Anglo-Irish Treaty. His words were:
"As the House will know, we have been having discussions with the Government of the Irish Republic over the past few months about the possibility of establishing a Free Trade Area between our two countries. I am glad to say that these negotiations have now been concluded successfully, and I am signing the Agreement establishing a Free Trade Area with Mr. Lemass this evening. I am arranging for a copy of the Agreement, and related documents, to be placed in the Library, and for its publication in a White Paper in the next day or so. I am sure that honourable Members will share my pleasure at this significant and satisfactory development in our relations with the Republic of Ireland."
My Lords, that concludes the Prime Minister's Statement.
§ LORD ERROLL OF HALEMy Lords, I should like to congratulate Her Majesty's Government on bringing this matter to a successful conclusion after it had been initiated by the previous Administration, and to thank the noble Earl for reading out the Statement. Perhaps he could explain whether it is a Treaty or an Agreement, because in his preamble he referred to the "Anglo-Irish Treaty" and in the text he referred to an Agreement. I should be glad if he would also inform noble Lords when the Agreement, or Treaty, will come into operation; and also, what specific benefits will accrue to Ulster from this Agreement? Finally, can he inform us whether our EFTA partners have been consulted, and whether they are in agreement with this development; and, if so, whether Eire may expect to become a member of EFTA?
§ THE EARL OF LONGFORDMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for welcoming this Agreement. With 624 his permission, I will not answer the questions in detail, because I think he will wish to study the Agreement when it is available. There will be a Press conference this afternoon held by two Ministers; there will be the signing of the Agreement this evening, and the document will be available in the Library. I would rather not become involved in detail now. But I assure the noble Lord that we have been keeping in touch with the EFTA countries and certainly there is no objection from that quarter. There is certainly no reason whatever to think that Ulster will suffer. Perhaps that information will relieve the noble Lord of two of his anxieties.
As to whether it is called a Treaty or an Agreement, I am afraid that I should need to take consultation on that. I am myself rather interested in the verbiage, having just written 100,000 words on the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. But it is an Agreement, and I think we can leave it there for the moment. Perhaps I may be allowed to say that of course I feel particularly enthusiastic. In saying that I want to pay tribute not only to the present Government but to the noble Lord and others who have laboured in the past.
LORD REAMy Lords, might I ask the noble Earl a question? He referred to the Free Trade Area between our two countries. I take it that this country is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. On the other hand, he said that Ulster would not suffer by this Treaty. Will not Ulster be in exactly the same position as England, Scotland and Wales?
§ THE EARL OF LONGFORDMy Lords, I should certainly hope that the Six Counties area will benefit. I was not trying to make extravagant claims: I was just trying to relieve the anxieties of the noble Lord opposite.
§ THE EARL OF LONGFORDMy Lords, I think that that, technically speaking, is the correct answer. But we are concerned more directly with this Island and the 25 Counties in the "Other Island".
§ LORD ERROLL OF HALEMy Lords, does not the noble Earl know when the Agreement will come into operation?
§ THE EARL OF LONGFORDYes, my Lords. The answer is that the various Free Trade agreements—it is a pretty complicated affair; I am told that it will take many minutes just to sign the whole complex of documents—enter into force on July 1, 1966, except for the agreement on cotton textiles, which comes into force on January 1, 1966.