Warm welcome for Irish Free State on attending its first Imperial Conference

London, 3 October 1923 - The Irish Free State is being represented for the first time at an Imperial Economic Conference, which opened in London on October 1st. 

 The Irish delegation to the Conference is led by President of the Executive Council, William T. Cosgrave, who departed from Dun Laoghaire accompanied by Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald, Minister for External Affairs; and by Mr. Joseph McGrath, Minister for Industry and Commerce. Prof. Eoin MacNeill, Minister for Education, followed on later. Mr. Patrick McGilligan of the High Commissioner’s Department will act as Secretary to the Irish representatives.

The Imperial Conference was opened by Mr. Stanley Baldwin, the British Prime Minister, at 10 Downing Street, and will be attended by the representatives from all the Empire’s Dominions. Indeed, in welcoming individually the various members of the Conference in his opening address, Mr. Baldwin extended a particularly cordial greeting to the President of the Irish Free State Executive.

Mr. Baldwin would refer to the problems of unemployment in Britain and to the importance of inter-Imperial trade and he expressed confidence that the Conference would be able to devise ways to grow trade within the Empire. Adding that all countries had come together on an equal footing, Mr. Baldwin said that the ‘British Empire cannot live for itself alone. Its strength as a Commonwealth of Nations will grow so far as its members unite to bear on their shoulders the burdens of those weaker and less fortunate than themselves.’

Pathé newsreel footage of the Imperial Conference official pictures taken by special permission at Number 10 Downing Street. London 

The welcome of the British Prime Minister to the Irish delegation was echoed by Dominion leaders such as Mr. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, who emphasised the value of personal contact and noted the shared Dominion status of his own country and the new Irish Free State. General Smuts of South Africa, who had of course travelled to Ireland in advance of the truce in the Anglo-Irish war, noted that the Free State’s presence underlined the positive effect a spirit of goodwill could have. Two years ago when we had our last Imperial Conference the state of affairs in Ireland was about as black as anything which exists in Europe today’, Smuts said, ‘but the difficulties were absolutely grappled with, and as a result we have the Irish Free State represented here at this great Conference, sitting at this board of our Commonwealth, and collaborating with us on the problems which face us all. A case like this is to me proof that nothing is really as bad as it looks, nor, perhaps, is Europe as bad as it looks.’ 

President Cosgrave responded in kind, acknowledging the warmth of the reception and committing the Free State to delivering upon its responsibilities and shouldering burdens which are ‘common burdens.’ 

Before departing from Dublin, President Cosgrave noted that, as with the League of Nations, attendance at the Conference represented a new field of activity for his Government, which had spent its first year almost exclusively concerned with internal issues.

At present, President Cosgrave said, his Government's principal difficulty was with the economic condition of the country and he expected that it was this issue that would occupy their time during the first session of the new Dáil.

In his address to the Conference, Mr. Joseph McGrath, Minister for Industry and Commerce, likewise remarked on the paucity of attention the Free State government has been able to give the economic question. With all its energies directed inwards and elsewhere, Mr. McGrath explained that ‘neither the people nor the Government have had sufficient opportunity to examine the economic condition of our country in all its aspects, and to determine a policy for the future. We are engaged upon these matters at the present time, and will be so engaged during the coming year.’ 

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]