Overview

Volume IV of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy covers an eventful period of Irish foreign policy, from 10 March 1932 to 31 December 1936. It saw the first Fianna Fail administration led by a wilful Eamon de Valera, who was both President and Minister for External Affairs. The records show how de Valera and his officials set about restructuring the framework of British-Irish relations and dismantling the 1921 Treaty. Legislation facilitating the abolition of the Oath of Allegiance was introduced, land annuity payments due to Britain were withheld, and the office of Governor General was downgraded. A breakthrough in trade relations occurred when Britain imposed prohibitive tariffs following Ireland's retention of annuities, and Irish officials had to look abroad in search of alternative markets. De Valera expanded in size and influence of the Department of External Affairs, and politicians such as Joseph P. Walshe (Secretary of the DEA) and John W. Dulanty (Irish High Commissioner in London) were given unprecedented latitude in the tactical execution of policy. The volume reveals a personal dimension to Walshe's close professional relationship with de Valera. It offers a picture of Ireland in the 1930s enjoying unparalleled involvement on the wider international stage. Through the League of Nations diplomatic links with Europe and the USA strengthened and, on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, an Irish legation opened in Madrid. Documents charting the run up to the Second World War appear at the close of this exciting volume.

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9781904890034

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Catriona Crowe is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. She was Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland. She was Manager of the Irish Census Online Project, which has placed the 1901 and 1911 censuses online free of charge over the last 5 years. She was an Editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy. Ronan Fanning MRIA was Professor of Modern History at University College Dublin. He was an editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series and a founder-member of the Royal Irish Academy's National Committee for the Study of International Affairs. Dr Michael Kennedy has been the executive editor of the RIA's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series and head of the DIFP series since 1997. Eunan O'Halpin MRIA is the Professor of Contemporary Irish History at Trinity College, Dublin. He is also an editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series. Dermot Keogh MRIA is Professor of History at University College Cork and an editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series.

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