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Treaty Ports (Ireland)

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Treaty Ports (Ireland)

Following the establishment of the Irish Free State, three deep water Treaty Ports at Berehaven, Queenstown (modern Cobh) and Lough Swilly were retained by the United Kingdom in accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 6 December 1921. Formerly, when the country was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal Navy had designated its Ireland Station as a long-standing separate command.

Contents

The main reason for the retention of the ports was the U-boat Campaign around Irish coasts during World War I and the concern of the British government that it might recur. As a part of the overall Anglo-Irish settlement it was envisaged that all other Royal Navy, British Army and RAF personnel and equipment were to evacuate the Free State.

As part of the settlement of the Anglo-Irish Trade War in the 1930s, the ports were transferred to Ireland (the Free State's successor) in 1938 following agreements reached between the British and Irish Governments.

Terms of the treaty

In 1921 Éamon de Valera originally offered - in an early version of the Anglo-Irish Treaty - to allow the British to continue to use the ports for a further period of five years. The British would also be able to use whatever harbours they required in wartime.

However Article 8 was defeated by republicans within de Valera's own party and removed from the final terms of the treaty. Instead the issue of the ports was addressed in Article 7:

The Annex referred to in that Article read as follows:

The Annex included reference to Belfast Lough because Northern Ireland was included within the original territory of the Irish Free State although under the Treaty it had the right to opt out of the Free State and back into the U.K.. It did so on 8 December 1922. With the departure of Northern Ireland from the Free State, this left three United Kingdom bases in the territory of the Free State (subsequently renamed Ireland in 1937). The continued occupation by the United Kingdom of these bases was a thorn in the side of Irish leaders at the time.

Notably, the position of the Treaty ports was raised by de Valera in correspondence with the British Government in 1932 shortly before the beginning of the Economic War, where he noted:

Agreement on transfer of Treaty Ports

By 1938 the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom had been involved in a long-running Anglo-Irish Trade War that was not in the interest of either country's economy. Negotiations to settle the matters in dispute took place in 1938. One of the items the Irish side pushed for was the transfer of the Treaty Ports. The treaty was signed on 25 April 1938; the section relating to the Treaty Ports was as follows:

The treaty was subject to parliamentary approval by both parties. The United Kingdom subsequently enacted the Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act 1938, which put in effect, among other things, the British government's agreement to transfer the Treaty Ports. From an Irish point of view, the handover of the ports in the lead up to World War II was felt vital to consolidate Ireland's neutrality during "The Emergency".

Spike Island Handover (11 July 1938)

On 12 July 1938, The Times reported on the handover of Spike Island, near Cobh (51°50′2.15″N 8°17′5.97″W) on 11 July 1938 as follows:

The invitations to the Irish handover celebration read as follows:

Berehaven Handover (29 September 1938)

On 6 October 1938, The Times reported the handover of forts and batteries (known collectively as Berehaven) around Castletownbere and on Bere Island (51.64°N 9.90°W / 51.64; -9.90) on 29 September 1938 as follows:

The Times' choice of headline was a little misleading in one respect - the British troops at Berehaven were not the last troops to leave the Irish state. The evacuation of Lough Swilly was yet to take place.

Lough Swilly Handover (3 October 1938)

On 4 October 1938, The Times reported on the handover of Lough Swilly at Fort Dunree (55°11′48.26″N 7°33′10.95″W) on 3 October 1938 as follows:

Two brothers in-law, one hauling down a Union Jack and the other hauling up an Irish tricolour was indeed a poignant end to the long history of British military presence in the territory of the Irish state. It was also the last time sovereignty over any territory was ceded to Ireland.

British dissent

Following the agreement to handover the Treaty Ports to the Irish Free State, Winston Churchill was one of only a few MPs who were critical of the decision. In 1938 he addressed the UK's Houses of parliament calling it a "folly":

Churchill also remarked that the concessions under the Agreements of 1938 were "astonishing triumphs" for Irish leader, Éamon de Valera. Churchill also asked would it not be "far better to give up the £10,000,000 [a one-off Irish payment under the Agreement], and acquire the legal right, be it only on a lease granted by treaty, to use these harbours when necessary?" Mr Churchill also made a remark concerning the name by which the Irish state would henceforth be described in the UK (Eire) - "I have not been able to form a clear opinion on the exact juridical position of the Government of that portion of Ireland called Southern Ireland, which is now called Eire. That is a word which really has no application at the present time, and I must say, even from the point of view of the ordinary uses of English, that it is not customary to quote a term in a foreign language, a capital town, a geographical place, when there exists a perfectly well-known English equivalent [Ireland]. It is usual to say Paris not Paree."

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Churchill's concerns appeared justified. The escort Groups refuelling facilities at Berehaven and Queenstown were 200 miles (320 km) further west than the nearest ones in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. To compensate for the distance, allied convoys from North America were routed via Iceland to the ports in Northern Ireland in the early months of the Battle of the Atlantic. However, this decision eventually proved more practical because the shorter sea lanes around Ireland's southern coast soon became vulnerable to German anti-shipping air attacks following the fall of France in June 1940. The Iceland route also provided better air cover and escort refuelling for allied convoys. Nevertheless, many in the Royal Navy felt resentment towards the handover of the Irish Treaty Ports because they would have provided some cover to convoys heading south to Gibraltar and North Africa.

References

Treaty Ports (Ireland) Wikipedia