Irish Neutrality During World War II
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The policy of neutrality was adopted by Ireland's
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at the instigation of the
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
upon the outbreak of World War II in Europe. It was maintained throughout the conflict, in spite of several German air raids by aircraft that missed their intended British targets, and attacks on Ireland's shipping fleet by Allies and Axis alike. Possibilities of both German and British invasions were discussed in
Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...
. Both eventualities were prepared for, although the most detailed preparations were done with the Allies under Plan W. De Valera's ruling party,
Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...
, supported his neutral policy for the duration of the war. This period is known in
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as the Emergency, owing the title to the wording of the constitutional article employed to suspend normal governance of the country. Pursuing a policy of neutrality required maintaining a balance between the strict observance of non-alignment and the taking of practical steps to repel or discourage an invasion from either of the two warring parties. Despite the official position of neutrality, there were many unpublicised contraventions of this, such as permitting the use of the Donegal Corridor by Allied military aircraft, and extensive co-operation between Allied and Irish intelligence. The Irish supplied the Allies with detailed weather reports for the
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, including a weather report from the lighthouse at Blacksod Bay,
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, which prompted the decision to go ahead with the
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.


Prewar relationship with Britain

Ireland was in 1939 nominally a
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of the
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and a member of
the Commonwealth ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
. The nation had gained de facto independence from Britain after the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
, and the
Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...
of 1921 declared Ireland to be a "sovereign, independent, democratic state". A new constitution was adopted by a
plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...
in 1937. The
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meant that unlike in
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, Britain's entry into the war no longer automatically included its dominions. Thus, in 1939 the
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had the option of remaining neutral. Relations between Ireland and Britain had been strained for many years; until 1938, for example, the two states had engaged in the Anglo-Irish Trade War. Nevertheless, Ireland did not sever its vestigial connection with the Crown and it was not until The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 that the final nominal link was severed. No representatives of the new state attended Commonwealth conferences or participated in its affairs, but Ireland remained a legal member until the British Ireland Act 1949, which accepted the declaration of a Republic and formally terminated its membership in the Commonwealth. Alongside George VI's few remaining powers, the 1937 Constitution had provided that the holder of the new office of
President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...
was in "Supreme Command" of the Defence Forces.


Internal affairs

Irish neutrality was supported by the population of Ireland. Irish citizens could serve in the British armed forces. At least 50,000 fought in the British Army. Others served in the Merchant Navy and
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, some rising up the ranks rapidly, such as the youngest
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in the RAF's history, Brendan Finucane. A total of 4,983 members of the Defence Forces deserted to fight with the British and Allied armed forces. After the war they faced discrimination, lost their rights to pensions, and were barred from holding government jobs. They were finally formally pardoned by the Irish Government in 2013. Travel passes and identity cards were also issued to 245,000 people to enable them to travel to Britain to work. Elements of the
Irish Republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...
movement sided with the
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at the onset of the war with the
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in 1939, believing that a German victory might bring about a
United Ireland United Ireland (), also referred to as Irish reunification or a ''New Ireland'', is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically: the sovereign state of Ireland (legally ...
. In response to accusations that the state had failed to take up the moral fight against
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, Joe Walshe, said in 1941 that: On 1 September 1939, in response to the
German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
, a hastily convened Dáil declared an immediate
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
. The day's debate culminated in the Emergency Powers Act, which came into effect one day later, on 3 September. It was modelled extensively on the British draft worked out during the Sudeten crisis a year before. In some respects, the Irish act was regarded as more drastic. The key provisions were as follows: With such sweeping executive powers, de Valera's cabinet set out to tackle any problems that might arise and curb any inconsistencies with the nation's policy of neutrality. Censorship of radio newscasts meant newsreaders were confined to reading, without comment, the dispatches of each side, while weather forecasts were halted to preclude the inadvertent assistance of planes or ships involved in the war. Public expressions of opinion appearing to favour one side or the other were usually repressed. The word "war" itself was avoided, with the Government referring to the situation in Europe from 1939 to 1945 as "The Emergency". However, on the British declaration of war, the teenaged George Cole watched as an
effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...
of
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
was publicly burnt in Dublin without any interference by the police. Cole sensed that there was: Social and economic conditions in the state at this time were harsh. Wages stagnated, but prices rose. There were serious shortages of fuel and some foodstuffs. Meanwhile, cross-border smuggling and the
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underwent something of a boom. President
Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...
was a member of the
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, most of whose members were ex-unionists and pro-British. When he was invited to a 1943 wedding to be attended by many of the former
Protestant Ascendancy The Protestant Ascendancy (also known as the Ascendancy) was the sociopolitical and economical domination of Ireland between the 17th and early 20th centuries by a small Anglicanism, Anglican ruling class, whose members consisted of landowners, ...
, his secretary received assurances from the bride that there would be no "pro-belligerent demonstration either by toasting the King of England and/or the singing of the British National Anthem".


Prelude to war

The Irish government had good reason to be concerned, lest the war in Europe re-open the wounds of the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. There were pro- and anti-fascist movements in Ireland, and the IRA continued to pursue its own agenda. Former Old IRA commander and founder of the
Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...
Party General
Eoin O'Duffy Eoin O'Duffy (born Owen Duffy; 28 January 1890 – 30 November 1944) was an Irish revolutionary, soldier, police commissioner, politician and fascist. O'Duffy was the leader of the Monaghan Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a promin ...
became a leader of the paramilitary
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organisation in 1932–1933. In recognition of his consistent support for Ireland's Jews,
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
, Ireland's
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
during the war, has a forest in
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named in his honour. In this context, it is relevant to note that ''two'' Irish contingents fought in the 1937
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but on opposing sides. O'Duffy's Irish Brigade fought with the (Fascist) Nationalists and the Irish contingent of the
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fought with the Republicans, though neither had government support. In the six months prior to the onset of war, there had been an escalation of
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
violence and a bombing campaign in Britain under the new leadership of Seán Russell. De Valera, who had tolerated the IRA as recently as 1936, responded with the Offences against the State Act, 1939. Upon the outbreak of the main conflict in September, subversive activity was regarded as endangering the security of the state. There were fears that the United Kingdom, eager to secure Irish ports for their air and naval forces, might use the attacks as a pretext for an invasion of Ireland and a forcible seizure of the assets in question. Furthermore, the possibility that the IRA (in line with the Irish republican tradition of courting allies in Europe) might link up with German agents, thereby compromising Irish non-involvement, was considered. This threat was real: Russell, in May 1940, travelled to
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in an effort to obtain arms and support for the IRA. He received training in German ordnance, but died on a submarine while returning to Ireland as part of Operation Dove. A small number of inadequately prepared German agents were sent to Ireland, but those who did arrive were quickly picked up by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (G2). Active republicans were interned at the
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or given prison sentences: six men were hanged under newly legislated acts of treason and three more died on
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. The Germans also later came to realise they had overestimated the abilities of the IRA. By 1943, the IRA had all but ceased to exist. In Ireland, neutrality was popular, despite rationing and economic pressure.


Ports and trade

Ireland was isolated at the outbreak of the war. Shipping had been neglected since the Irish independence. Foreign ships, on which Ireland had hitherto depended, were less available; and neutral American ships refused to enter the "war zone". There were 56 Irish ships when the war started; and 15 more were purchased or leased during the conflict; 20 were lost. In his
Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...
address in 1940,
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
, lamented: The diminutive Irish Mercantile Marine continued essential overseas trading. This period was referred to as "The Long Watch" by Irish mariners. They sailed unarmed and usually alone, flying the Irish tricolour. They identified themselves as neutrals with bright lights and by painting the tricolour and EIRE in large letters on their sides and decks, despite this, twenty percent of seamen were killed in the war. Allied
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
s often could not stop to pick up survivors. Irish mariners would rescue seafarers from both sides, but they were attacked by both, predominantly by the
Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
. With the work of the seaman the imports reached their destination and exports, mainly food supplies for Great Britain, were delivered. 521 lives were saved. In addition, some British ships were repaired in Irish shipyards. Despite being frequently encountered as rumours, no
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
s ever used Ireland as a refuelling base. The origins of this claim likely originates with the 1939 dumping of 28 rescued Greek sailors by onto the Irish coast, after the U-boat commander Werner Lott sank their Greek cargo freighter, which was bound for Britain with metal ore. This U-boat incident was featured on the cover of the popular U.S. ''
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'' magazine, on 16 October 1939. As in the days preceding, news of the dumping was widely published, the magazine and the locals who spotted the unloading of the captured Greeks noting that the U-boat had conducted the action and re-submerged before coastal defence aircraft could be directed onto the trespassing vessel.


External affairs


Policy

For de Valera the emphasis of Irish neutrality was on preservation of Irish sovereignty, so committing to the policy accomplished both rational and ideological goals. While the revolutionaries of the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
were ready to enter into alliances with the enemies of Britain to secure Irish independence, they realised that continuing such a policy after achieving independence would be dangerously provocative, a point de Valera made as early as February 1920: This statement reflected a point de Valera had made as early as 1918 (when writing to President of the United States
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
, seeking that the United States formally recognise the
Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...
as an independent state): After the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1936, de Valera said at the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
: Months before the outbreak of war, de Valera gave a statement to the
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which appeared in newspapers on 20 February 1939:


Offer to end the partition of Ireland in 1940

At a series of meetings in 17–26 June 1940, during and after the
Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
, British envoy
Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...
brought a proposal to end the
partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...
and offered a solemn undertaking to accept "the principle of a United Ireland" if the independent Irish state would abandon its neutrality and immediately join the war against Germany and Italy. However, the reality of unity would have to be agreed by the "representatives of the government of Éire and the
government of Northern Ireland A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
", each of which distrusted the other intensely. De Valera therefore rejected the amended proposals on 4 July, worried that there was "no guarantee that in the end we would have a united Ireland" and that it "would commit us definitely to an immediate abandonment of our neutrality". The offer and his rejection remained secret until a biography was published in 1970. Prime Minister Churchill proposed that a Council for Defense of all Ireland should be formed out of which "the unity of the island would probably, in some form or other emerge after the war." The Irish Prime Minister interpreted that statement as an offer to end of partition in return for his nation's entry into the war. De Valera was said to have stated: "We cannot believe you." Later stating, "If we were foolish enough to accept that invitation ... we would be cheated in the end." De Valera had campaigned against partition and the 1937 Constitution drafted by him had an
irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...
clause describing the State as the "whole island of Ireland". After the war he again called repeatedly for the ending of partition.


Mixed effects

In April 1941, the question of Ireland's entry into the war was again raised when the Australian Prime Minister
Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...
paid a visit to Belfast and Dublin for private discussions with De Valera and John M. Andrews, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Subsequently, Menzies reported to Churchill that the complexity of the questions of Irish unity and sovereignty meant that there was little possibility of Ireland's abandoning its policy of neutrality. Without the Irish treaty ports (which the United Kingdom had released a year prior to the war), an independent Ireland posed a serious disadvantage to the military capability and safety of British fighting and trade, risking the possibility of invasion if that disadvantage ever proved too great. If Irish sovereignty was to be maintained, then neutrality would have to be steered consciously to the benefit of British interests, as these were its own: at once to aid the British war effort but also to forestall invasion by Britain to regain the treaty ports. Ireland, like other neutrals was "...neutral for the power that potentially threatened them most." During the war, and accusing de Valera as a "Nazi sympathiser", the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon, urged Churchill to use Scottish and Welsh troops to overrun "southern Ireland" before installing a Governor-General for the whole island at Dublin, but this proposal was rejected by London. Nevertheless, Churchill directed Field Marshal Sir
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...
to prepare plans to seize Cork and Queenstown (Cobh) so their harbours could be used as naval bases. Better submarine-detecting technology, as well as military bases in Iceland, meant that the Irish ports were no longer as vital for the Allies as they had been during World War I. In this regard Viscount Cranborne acknowledged at the war's end that the Irish Government had "been willing to accord us any facilities which would not be regarded as overtly prejudicing their attitude to neutrality", collaborating with the British war cabinet. (See below for complete text.) The pattern of co-operation between British and Irish agencies began upon the onset of war when de Valera permitted the use of specified Irish airspace mainly for patrolling coastal points. The use of the " Donegal Corridor", the narrow strip of Irish territory between County Fermanagh and the sea, was significant. By the autumn of 1941 use of the corridor was a daily routine. While de Valera rejected British appeals to use Irish ports and harbour facilities directly, de Valera was, according to M.E. Collins, "more friendly than strict neutrality should have allowed."Collins, M.E., 1993, ''Ireland 1868-1966'', Dublin: the Educational Company of Ireland, pg. 374 The co-operation that emerged allowed for meetings to take place to consider events after German troops had overrun neutral
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,
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,
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, Luxembourg and Belgium. Three days after the fall of France, Irish and British defence officials met to discuss how British troops could, strictly at de Valera's invitation, occupy Ireland upon the event of a German landing there to expel foreign troops attempting to use her as a back door to later invade Britain (Plan W, Plan "W"). The meetings continued, as Cranborne described, throughout the war, facilitating further dialogue. Before the war began, de Valera had held a meeting with career diplomat Dr. Eduard Hempel, the German Minister in Ireland since 1938. The meetings discussed Ireland's close trade links with the United Kingdom and the ease with which Britain could invade her if its interests were threatened. He, in turn, communicated to Berlin that such was the case that it "rendered it inevitable for the Irish government to show a certain consideration for Britain" and urged war officials to avoid any action that would legitimise a British invasion of Ireland. In mid-June 1940, Secretary of External Affairs Joe Walshe expressed his "great admiration for the German achievements." Hempel, for his part, wrote to Germany of "the great and decisive importance, even to Ireland, of the changed situation in world affairs and of the obvious weakness of the democracies." Hempel might well have known better of Irish intentions, having earlier described a native custom "to say agreeable things without meaning everything that is said." Other examples of Irish attitudes towards Nazi Germany found expression in mid-1940 in de Valera's Chargé d'Affaires in Berlin, William Warnock (Irish diplomat), William Warnock, 'whose "unquestionable" hostility to Britain could easily be interpreted as sympathetic for National Socialism.' Academic J.J. Lee questioned just how much of Warnock's zeal towards Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Reichstag building, Reichstag speech on 19 July was genuine enthusiasm for the 'international justice' that could be expected after Germany's victory, as opposed to an adherence to the instructions of Dublin to please oneself to the potential victors. Three years later, by 1944, the orientation of the war and of Irish relations to Germany had turned about-face, with the likelihood of a German victory now remote. In that climate, the Irish Government, once so ready to "say agreeable things", Hempel remarked, had become "unhelpful and evasive". The Ambassadors of the United States, United States Ambassador to Ireland, David Gray (ambassador), David Gray, stated that he once asked de Valera what he would do if German Fallschirmjäger, paratroopers "liberated Derry". According to Gray, de Valera was silent for a time and then replied, "I don't know".


Condolences on Hitler's death

Ireland maintained a public stance of neutrality to the end by refusing to close the German and Japanese Legations. The
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...
personally visited Eduard Hempel, Ambassador Hempel at his home in Dún Laoghaire on 2 May 1945 to express official condolences on the death of German dictator Adolf Hitler, following the usual protocol on the death of a Head of State of a state with a legation in Ireland. President Hyde visited Hempel separately on 3 May. Irish envoys in other nations did likewise, but no other Western European democracies followed Ireland's example. The visits caused a storm of protest in the United States. De Valera denounced reports of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as "anti-national propaganda"; according to Paul Bew, this was not out of disbelief but rather because the Holocaust undermined the assumptions underlying Irish neutrality: moral equivalence between the Allies and the Axis, and the idea that the Irish were the most persecuted people in Europe.


Position on Jewish refugees

Ireland's position on Jewish refugees the Holocaust, fleeing Europe was one of scepticism. Irish authorities during the war generally gave two justifications for turning away prospective immigrants: that they would overcrowd the nation and take Irish jobs, and that a substantial increase in the Jewish population might give rise to an antisemitic problem. There was some domestic anti-Jewish sentiment during World War II, most notably expressed in a notorious speech to the Dáil in 1943, when newly elected independent Teachta Dála, TD Oliver J. Flanagan advocated "routing the Jews out of the country". There was some official indifference from the political establishment to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust during and after the war. This indifference would later be described by Minister for Justice (Ireland), Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell (politician), Michael McDowell as being "antipathetic, hostile and unfeeling". Dr. Mervyn O'Driscoll of University College Cork reported on the unofficial and official barriers that prevented Jews from finding refuge in Ireland:


Media

Irish neutrality was used by German Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propaganda to film an anti-British themed movie in 1941 named ''My Life for Ireland'', which tells the story of an Irish nationalist family in their struggle against the British.


Victory in Europe Day

In his speech celebrating the Allied victory in Europe (13 May 1945) Winston Churchill remarked that he had demonstrated restraint towards Ireland because
"we never laid a violent hand upon them, which at times would have been quite easy and quite natural."
Britain had Iceland during World War II, occupied neutral Iceland in May 1940. In a response a few days later, de Valera acknowledged that Churchill did not add "another horrid chapter to the already bloodstained record" of British–Irish relations, but asked: In addition, he put the following, that The implications on Victory in Europe Day and after, of having not been involved in the war and having suffered the devastation that defined the course of Europe afterwards, are the subject of historical debate. The devastation shared by most of Europe, and Ireland's avoidance of it, was described by F. S. L. Lyons as: In response to that, Ronan Fanning wrote: "One might question ... the liberating value of war for a people who has so recently emerged from revolution followed by a civil war and in whose midst the IRA still propounded the creed of violence".


The Cranborne Memorandum

On 21 February 1945 Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, presented a memorandum to the Coalition Government 1940–1945, British War Cabinet regarding Irish–British collaboration during 1939–1945: # They agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough. # They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a Donegal Corridor, corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. # They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their Coast Watching Service, coast watching service. # They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) # They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. # They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. # They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. # They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. # They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. # They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. # Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. # They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). # They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. # They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.


Effect on United Nations membership

The neutrality policy led to a considerable delay in Ireland's membership of the United Nations (UN). Ireland's applications for membership were United Nations Security Council veto power, vetoed by the Soviet Union, a Permanent members of the UN security council, permanent member of the Security Council, from 1946 to December 1955. The original use of the term Declaration by United Nations, "United Nations" in 1942–45 always referred to the Allies of World War II. Ireland had applied to join the UN in 1946, following the demise of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
, whose final Secretary-General was Irish diplomat Seán Lester. By March 1955, the Minister for External Affairs, Liam Cosgrave, announced that: "Ireland's application for membership of the U.N.O. still stands although it remains blocked by an objection in the Security Council". For reasons of diplomacy the government would not state the reason for the objection, nor which country had made it. Seán MacBride considered that the UN boycott of Ireland was originally agreed at the 1945 Yalta Conference by Churchill and Joseph Stalin, Stalin. Ireland's acceptance into the UN was announced by John A. Costello on 15 December 1955.


See also

* ''Caught in a Free State'' * Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II * Irish maritime events during World War II * Irish neutrality * List of World War II weapons used in Ireland * List of aircraft of Ireland in World War II * Neutral powers during World War II * British Empire in World War II


References

* Catriona Crowe, Ronan Fanning, Michael Kennedy, Eunan O'Halpin and Dermot Keogh (eds),
Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Volume VI: 1939–1941
' (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 2008) * Catriona Crowe, Ronan Fanning, Michael Kennedy, Dermot Keogh and Eunan O'Halpin (eds), ''Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Volume VII: 1941–1945'' (RIA series, 2010) * *


Citations


External links


Irish Volunteers in WWII German SS service

2010 essay by Michael Kennedy on the Irish coast-watching service in WW2



Irish Times article on why the Irish volunteered for the British forces
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Neutrality During World War Ii Foreign relations of Ireland Independent Ireland in World War II, * Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations Neutral states in World War II Politics of the Republic of Ireland Politics of World War II Germany–Ireland relations Ireland–United Kingdom relations