We have learnt from a most secret but entirely 
reliable source, which must on no account be comprimised, 
that the Italian Minister in Dublin has reported a conver-
sation with the Secretary of the Department of External 
Affairs in which the latter said that although no immediate 
danger of a British invasion existed for the moment, it was 
dificult to foresee what complications there might be in the 
future. The Secretary added that a decisive attack by the Axis 
on the British islands should not be too long delayed and not 
later than the beginning of next Spring, because the main 
concern in governing circles in Eire lay in the possibilty, 
which was considered to be more and more certain, that America 
would intervene in the war, which would render the position of
Eire even more critical than at present. This conversation 
indicates, even under the most favourable interpretation , a 
tendency on the part of Mr. Walshe towards re-insurance with the
Axis. The Italian Minister is extremely unrelaible, but as it 
confirms the impression gained from previous reports you may care 
to show this message to the President for his strictly personal
information as showing the unsatisfactory attitude of some at any 
rate of the Irish authorities in regard to this country.