[7] The section in the Act on ministers without portfolio was seen by Richard Mulcahy as designed to safeguard the legality of Aiken's office.

Therefore, it was decided that the Minister for Defence, at a time like this, should be free from other duties which might fall upon him, with a view to devoting his attention more closely to the Army and to its immediate requirements.

[10][11] Aiken enforced stringent censorship of news, and of material potentially sympathetic to the Allies, in accordance with Ireland's neutrality.

[16][17] In April 1941, Aiken went to the United States to ask President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military aid.

[18] In 1943, Labour Party TDs William Davin and Timothy J. Murphy questioned the need for such a minister, and the vagueness of its responsibilities.