2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) De Valera’s comments, in a parliamentary debate leading up to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1935 (the ‘1935 Citizenship Act’), reveal how global trends were at that time deciding the limits of his willingness to eradicate GDNL: Why should we increase the conflict and the confusion by having descent through either parent? As no hardship that I could see would result from it, I — not without regret — set aside the principle of descent through either parent and restricted myself in the Bill to the principle of descent through the father. If the principle of descent through the mother had been well established elsewhere, I should not object. I did not want to have descent through the father simply because he was the father but because that principle is almost universally established, whereas the other principle would be novel and strange. I should rather have descent, in present circumstances, through the mother alone than to have it through both parents because there would be less confusion but, in this case, we would be establishing a new principle and we would be leading in the direction of increased confusion … . 97 De Valera, despite his genealogy, was not here implying a preference for matrilineal transference of nationality over patrilineal transference. 98 He was merely making the rhetorical point that if he were forced to choose between matrilineal transference and parental (either parent) transference he would choose the former, simply to avoid the complications of the latter. The opposition party, Cumann na nGaedheal — which had spent the previous ten years in office without granting women equal citizenship rights — objected ‘strongly’ to de Valera’s proposal that citizenship would be transmissible through fathers only. 99 James Michael Burke, a lawyer and member of the opposition, expected that in ‘these modern times’ and ‘days of enlightenment’ women should be granted equal rights with men. 100 Burke also brought up a historical argument, stating that: [I]n very many countries in early times, descent was traced not through the father, but through the mother. That may come as a surprise to some members of the House, but if they will look at the Greek word for brother — adelphos — they will see that it suggests that it was through the mother and not through the father that succession came. 101 Burke’s argument made no impact on the final provisions of the 1935 Citizenship Act, rather the global status quo prevailed. On the contrary, in the international arena, in his role as acting president of the League of Nations, de Valera appeared committed to the cause of women’s equality. A resolution proposed in 1932 by a Belgian delegate, and supported by the Irish government, was to replace all references to woman/wife in arts 8–11 of the Hague Convention with the gender-neutral ‘person’. 102 On 31 October 1932, Alice Paul, who represented the Inter-American Commission of Women at Geneva, thanked de Valera for his ‘exceedingly generous support during our campaign’. 103 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 Dáil Éireann Debates (Ireland) 19 December 1934, Vol 54(10) (‘Dáil Éireann Debates’). Pace Daly (n 7) 261. Dáil Éireann Debates (n 97). ibid. ibid. Daly (n 7) 256–57. ibid 257. 56