§ Mr. Thurtleasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will state the latest information in his possession regarding the development of plans for making effective the non-intervention policy in Spain?
§ Viscount CranborneI would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave yesterday to questions by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Peebles and Southern (Captain Ramsay) to which I have nothing to add.
§ Mr. W. Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether he is aware that within the Irish Free State a former officer in the Free State 234W forces recruited a military expedition to fight against the Government of Spain, and that this expedition is now fighting in Spain against the Government; and whether he has made representations to the Free State Government that their obligations under international law, and as signatories to the Covenant of the League of Nations, are inconsistent with allowing such an expedition to be organised or to leave for Spain, and that the Foreign Enlistment Act, 1870, applies equally to the Irish Free State?
Mr. M. MacDonaldI am aware that a number of Irish Free State citizens left that country towards the end of last year with the object of enlisting in the forces of General Franco. With regard to the latter part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave to a question by the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, East (Mr. Mander) on 26th January. The question of prohibiting the recruitment and departure of volunteers for Spain was recently referred by the Non-Intervention Committee to the Governments concerned. I understand that the replies of the various Governments, including that of the Irish Free State Government, are now before the Committee.