Admission of Chilean refugees: Vigorous objections to the admission of Chilean refugees after the 1973 military coup were raised by the Department of Justice on the grounds that the people concerned were likely to be "extreme left-wing activists" who would gravitate towards the Provisional IRA.
The minister for foreign affairs at the time, Dr Garret FitzGerald was pressing urgently, and, in the event, successfully, for the admission of 12 families of refugees who were fleeing the military regime led by Gen Augusto Pinochet.
However, the minister for justice, Mr Patrick Cooney had major reservations, and these were expressed in a letter from his Department which is released in the latest batch of State papers.
A memorandum to Government from Foreign Affairs had claimed that other relevant departments, including Justice, raised "no objection" when consulted about the refugee issue.
The Iveagh House assertion was challenged by their neighbours on St Stephen's Green, who wrote to foreign affairs in February, 1974, stating that "the position, insofar as this Department is concerned, is not as set out in the memorandum. What this Department's reply did was to raise certain questions. No further communication was received from you in the matter."
The letter goes on to outline the points Mr Cooney would have suggested for inclusion in the memorandum to government "had he been given the opportunity". Instead, the minister would put his views orally to the Government along the following lines:
(a) "Our society is less cosmopolitan than that of western European countries generally and, in consequence, the absorption of even a limited number of foreigners of this kind could prove extremely difficult."
(b) The Chilean refugees posed additional problems because many of them appeared to be "Marxists and probably Communists" and included non-Chileans who had originally sought refuge in Chile from right-wing Latin American regimes, precisely because Chile had "a sympathetic (Communist) president" in Salvador Allende. "It would be reasonable to assume that if they have been political militants, they will not change their outlook on arrival in this country, and that they are liable, sooner or later, to engage in political agitation here."
(c) "Extreme left-wing or other political activists or agitators would be likely to present a far greater problem for this country than for other western European countries, as there is in existence here a relatively large and well-organised subversive group towards whom such persons could be expected to gravitate."
In its original memorandum, the Department of Foreign Affairs pointed out that most of Ireland's European partners had agreed to accept refugees.
While the discussion at cabinet level is not recorded, Dr FitzGerald's proposal was accepted by the government.