External association

External association was a hypothetical relationship between Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1921–22, whereby Ireland would be a sovereign state associated with, but not a member of, the Commonwealth; the British monarch would be head of the association, but not head of state of Ireland. De Valera proposed external association as a compromise between isolationist Irish republicanism on the one hand and Dominion status on the other. Whereas a full republic could not be a member of the Commonwealth until the London Declaration of 1949, a Dominion could not be fully independent until the Statute of Westminster 1931.

External association was never implemented as such; however, de Valera's 1930s diplomacy reflected similar ideas, as did the Commonwealth's London Declaration.

Origins

De Valera's thinking on external association was influenced, during his tour of the United States in 1919–20, by the US Sugar Intervention in Cuba. In U.S media in February 1920 he compared the future relationship between Britain and Ireland with the Monroe Doctrine relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. Darragh Gannon suggests the mixed reception this "Cuban policy" received among Dáil members foreshadowed the Treaty split of 1921–2. Nicholas Mansergh traces the first reference to "external association" to 27 July 1921, preceding a proposal by de Valera on 10 August for a treaty of free association between the Irish Republic and Great Britain. De Valera told Mansergh in 1965 that the idea of external association came to him "one morning as he was tying his bootlaces", shortly after Jan Smuts' exploratory visit following the June 1921 ceasefire which ended the Anglo-Irish War (later called the Irish War of Independence). In September 1921, David Lloyd George, the UK prime minister, proposed negotiations into "how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire may best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations". De Valera accepted and explained his concept of external association to the plenipotentiaries sent to London. Their head, Arthur Griffith, later said de Valera told him the idea was to get out of the "straitjacket of the Republic" while "bringing Cathal along", referring to Cathal Brugha, the staunchest republican in the Dáil ministry.

Document No. 2

The British ministers negotiating with the Irish plenipotentiaries rejected the idea of external association, and the Anglo-Irish Treaty the two sides signed on 6 December 1921 provided for an Irish Free State with the same status as Canada. De Valera opposed this, and in the Second Dáil debate on the Treaty offered his alternative "Document No. 2", of which articles 2 to 6 described the "Terms of Association":

#

That, for purposes of common concern, Ireland shall be associated with the States of the British Commonwealth, viz: the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
# That when acting as an associate the rights, status, and privileges of Ireland shall be in no respect less than those enjoyed by any of the component States of the British Commonwealth.
# That the matters of "common concern" shall include Defence, Peace and War, Political Treaties, and all matters now treated as of common concern amongst the States of the British Commonwealth, and that in these matters there shall be between Ireland and the States of the British Commonwealth "such concerted action founded on consultation as the several Governments may determine".
# That in virtue of this association of Ireland with the States of the British Commonwealth citizens of Ireland in any of these States shall not be subject to any disabilities which a citizen of one of the component States of the British Commonwealth would not be subject to, and reciprocally for citizens of these States in Ireland.
# That, for purposes of the Association, Ireland shall recognise His Britannic Majesty as head of the Association.

De Valera, a former mathematics teacher, used Venn diagrams and other graphs to illustrate the relationships he envisaged between Ireland and the Commonwealth. Commentators have suggested the putative virtues of his proposal were too subtle and abstract to appeal to either supporters of the Treaty or republicans opposed to it. A journalist reporting on the Dáil debate said of de Valera's presentation, "One felt, however, we were entering the region of pure casuistry, nebulous, unpalpable and unreal."

Rejection of association

The Dáil voted to accept the original Treaty, and de Valera resigned as President of Dáil Éireann. In the Irish Civil War, he was nominal leader of the anti-Treaty side, although the military force was led by republicans who regarded external association as an unacceptable compromise. Cardinal Michael Logue, Ireland's Catholic primate, condemned the anti-Treaty side:
:Never before in the world's history did such a wild and destructive hurricane spring from such a thin, intangible, unsubstantial vapour. The difference between some equivocal words in an oath; the difference between internal and external connection with the British Commonwealth: this is the only foundation I have ever seen alleged. Men versed in the subtleties of the schools may understand them; men of good, sound, practical common sense shall hardly succeed.

In June 1922, UK prime minister David Lloyd George sought clarification from the pro-Treaty Provisional Government that was drafting the Constitution of the Irish Free State

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