A o w 1 o Iguassu Sweeneymc 1 5 62 OFFICIAL USE ONLY I go H H Ooa I Q Baffin O u and O rtr DEPARTMENTOFSTATE Approved in 1 10 62 Memorandum of Conversation 277 DATE December 19 1961 sumac-r Courtesy Call by the Irish Minister for External Affairs U S Irish pamlcmams The Secretary Mr Fr Aiken Minister for Mr James E Bowers Assistant Chief External Affairs of Protocol Ambassador Thomas J Kiernan Mr Joseph Sweeney BNA can To 5 5 White House -- Mr Bondy GE INR un- 3% also In a courtesy call on the Secretary at the request of the Minister far Bit 0 cibl vr ernal Affairs the following subjects were discussed 1 Non-dissemination of Nuclear Weapons Hr Aiken explained he was working for the non-dissemination of nuclear weapons through the Irish resolution he had presented to the UN General Assembly Some agreement along this line was possible he believed and he thought the Russians wool go along with it Inspection was unnecessary and so far as he was concerned in- practical If the Great Powers would agree not to give nuclear weapons to other countries and if the other countries agreed not to manufacture them this would be a great step forward The Secretary observed there was no question about our attitude We had rigorously tried not to spread this nuclear word u However it was a little difficult to know how to proceed when a country like France did what it had done Mr Aiken said he understood our difficulties and volunteered that he had never taken the View that the Big Powers should not take nuclear weapons wherever they so The Secretary observed that while he understood Hr Aiken's approach he thought it was also important to press for disarmament generally Hr Aiken claimed the Great Powers would never accept general and complete disarmament The Secretary agreed that it could not be worked out if you were left to use Briand's phrase with dupes and victims Hr Aiken felt the best that could be achieved was soe limitation of arms and no nuclear weapons among the lesser powers There was agree- fut that this point of View should be promoted particularly in Africa OFFICIAL USE ONLY GPO WW P R aha-as DECLASS my Anthority W0 r OFFICIAL USE ONLY ug- Partition Mr Aiken indicated he wanted to say something about partition and smilingly noted that the Secretary did not have to make any comment He then launched into a relatively restrained Irish nationalist argument against partition According to Mr Aiken British government officials agree with him that a united Ireland would be desirable but they are unwilling to say this publicly Mr Aiken suggested that if the Secretary felt that he could he might wish to say that he thought the reunifi- cation of Ireland was desirable and that Ireland and the United Kingdom should get together and work it out The Secretary referred to the obvious political difficulties of our becoming involved in this question between Ireland and the United Kingdom and said he would take note of what Kr Aiken had said 3 Ireland and the Common Market The Secretary asked what developments might emerge from Irish membership in the Common Market which would tend to lessen problemszelating to Anglo-Irish differences over the border This was precisely why Ireland was so keen on entering the Common MarketIMr Aiken replied He went on to emphasize that Ireland thought it would get along all right in the Common Market generally but even if they had to take some immediate knocks due to agriculture and their infant industries they would be better off in the long run 1 The Secretary said he gathered that the provisions of the Treaty of Rome did not bother Ireland At first Mr Aiken explained the Irish were concerned that member- ship in NATO was a sine 335 32g and the Secretary interjectedglnot quitey and went on to point out we hoped the Treaty of Rome would not be diluted Mr Aiken said apart from partition Ireland would have no political difficulties with membership in EEG Mr Aiken explained he did not know quite how to phrase it but he hoped we would not try to get a mass-produced Europe too quickly but rather allow the new Europe the gradual growth it required He would not like for example to see European inte gration pressed to the point where the neutrals could not be associated with it It was hoped that this could be worked out the Secretary explained Hr Aiken stressed that the Irish wanted to get into the European Community as a full member 4 International Payments Union Mr Aiken suggested that in connection with the developments of the EEC we should consider an international payments agreement Explaining that he had advocated an international payments agreement for a number of years Mr Aiken urged that we study the advantages of such an agreement The Secretary said he would ask his colleague Hr Ball to look into this 5 Presidential Visit to Ireland Hr Aiken concluded his courtesy visit by saying that Ireland would welcome President Kennedy if he ever came to Ireland however the Irish Government were fully aware of the President's hoary responsibilities and had no intention of pressing him to come He brought this up because there had been stories the President might visit Ireland The Secretary said he knew that the President would like to visit Ireland and if the arrangements could be worked out on short notice he would be pleasedto make in quiries Mr Aiken replied he was not extending an invitation but only making clear that if the President should decide on a visit he would be made welcome Hr Aiken urged the Secretary to visit Ireland ii'he ever had an extra 2h hours or indeed as long as he could stay and he assured him he would be most welcome The Secretary said he would enjoy such a visit and would love to have time for a little fishing OFFICIAL USE w rams This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu