Ireland would receive a very warm welcome back into the Commonwealth with whose members it already has many close links, the Secretary General of the organisation has said.
The modern Commonwealth is no longer a relic of the British Empire but a co-operative association of free and sovereign nations, Chief Emeka Anyaoku told the Irish Association in Dublin last night. He said Commonwealth members were united not by a colonial connection but by their mutual interest. The association was now called the Commonwealth, not the British Commonwealth. Important changes in the nature of the Commonwealth came too late to prevent Ireland's departure from the organisation, he said. "Nevertheless, I am glad to note that this has not stopped Ireland from having very close and friendly links with many individual Commonwealth countries."
In April 1949, he said, what became known as the London Declaration fundamentally changed the nature of the Commonwealth. It made it clear that while the British monarch would become the head of the Commonwealth, members would no longer need to have the British monarch as head of state.
"This in turn meant that countries with republican constitutions could be admitted and that India, which was about to become a republic, could therefore remain in the Commonwealth. It also removed any tendency to see the British monarch as the promoter of any particular religion or religious denomination."
Chief Anyaoku said he had come to work for the Commonwealth from his native Nigeria's foreign service just six years after his country's independence from colonial rule. "National self-determination and freedom were the incessant drum beats of my early adult years. I, as an African, could never have joined an organisation - much less devoted my life to it - if it was an agency of less than fully sovereign nations."
Just 16 of the 54 Commonwealth members now had Queen Elizabeth as head of state. Five members had their own monarchs, while 33 are republics.
Ireland has considerable links with Commonwealth countries, he said. Five of the six priority countries for Irish aid - Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - were members. In each of these countries people had a real reason to thank Ireland for its contribution to the betterment of their daily lives.
"Irish teachers, health workers and other specialists - often associated with religious orders - have played key roles in the development of many other Commonwealth countries. Irish immigrants have made important contributions to countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, each of them home to significant parts of the the 70 million strong global Irish family."
He said President Nelson Mandela had said earlier this year that Ireland had many friends in the Commonwealth and had expressed the hope that Ireland might return to it. "That, of course, is a matter entirely for the Irish Government and people to consider, and I have in this respect noted the recent interest in your media following the reported comment last month on the subject by the Taoiseach.
"I can promise you that should Ireland ever decide to take that step you can be sure of a very warm welcome: a cead mile failte in fact."