View source for Irish neutrality during World War II

{{Short description|Condition of Ireland not supporting either side during WWII}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=April 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
[[File:EIRE Sign Glengad Head near LOP 81.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Markings to alert aircraft to neutral Ireland ("Éire" English: "Ireland") during WWII on Glengad Head, [[County Donegal]]]]
The policy of [[neutral country|neutrality]] was adopted by Ireland's [[Oireachtas]] at the instigation of the [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]] upon the outbreak of [[World War II in Europe]]. It was maintained throughout the conflict, in spite of [[Bombing of Dublin in World War II|several German air raids]] by aircraft that missed their intended British targets, and [[MV Kerlogue|attacks on Ireland's shipping fleet by Allies and Axis alike]]. Possibilities of both German and British invasions were discussed in [[Dáil Éireann]]. 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]], supported his neutral policy for the duration of the war.
This period is known in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] as [[The Emergency (Ireland)|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 [[Neutral country|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 [[Atlantic Ocean]], including a weather report from the lighthouse at [[Blacksod Bay]], [[County Mayo]], which prompted the decision to go ahead with the [[Normandy landings]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Duggan |first=John P. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48570436 |title=Herr Hempel at the German legation in Dublin, 1937-1945 |publisher=Irish Academic Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-7165-2746-4 |location=Dublin |pages=180 |oclc=48570436}}</ref>
==Prewar relationship with Britain==
Ireland was in 1939 nominally a [[British Dominions|Dominion]] of the [[British Empire]] and a member of [[Commonwealth of Nations|the Commonwealth]]. The nation had gained [[Irish Free State|''de facto'' independence]] from Britain after the [[Irish War of Independence]], and the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] of 1921 declared Ireland to be a "sovereign, independent, democratic state". A [[Constitution of Ireland|new constitution]] was adopted by a [[plebiscite]] in 1937. The [[Statute of Westminster 1931]] meant that unlike in [[World War I]], [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|Britain's entry into the war]] no longer automatically included its dominions. Thus, in 1939 the [[Irish Free State]] had the option of remaining neutral.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bromage |first=Mary |author-link= |date=1964 |title=Churchill and Ireland |url=|location=Notre Dame, IL |publisher= University of Notre Dame Press |page=125 |isbn=}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Mansergh|first=Nicholas| author-link = Nicholas Mansergh |title=Survey of British Commonwealth affairs: problems of wartime co-operation and post-war change 1939–1952|publisher=Routledge|year=1968|page=59|isbn= 978-0-7146-1496-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4reb6_TOYjsC&pg=PA59}}</ref>
Nevertheless, [[Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936|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]] was in "Supreme Command" of the [[Defence Forces (Ireland)|Defence Forces]].<ref>Constitution of Ireland, Article 13.4 – "The supreme command of the Defence Forces is hereby vested in the President."</ref>
==Internal affairs==
{{main|The Emergency (Ireland)}}
Irish neutrality was supported by the population of Ireland.<ref>O'Halpin, Eunan, 1999, Defending Ireland: The Irish State and its enemies since 1922, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 151.</ref> [[World War II by country#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 (United Kingdom)|Merchant Navy]] and [[Royal Air Force]], some rising up the ranks rapidly, such as the youngest [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] [[fighter ace]] in the RAF's history, [[Brendan Finucane]].
A total of 4,983 members of the [[Defence Forces (Ireland)|Defence Forces]] [[Desertion|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/pardon-for-wwii-allies-deserters-1.719526 |title=Pardon for WWII Allies deserters |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=12 June 2012 |access-date=4 May 2023}}</ref>
Travel passes and identity cards were also issued to 245,000 people to enable them to travel to Britain to work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume6/issue1/features/?id=181|title=History Ireland}}</ref> Elements of the [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republican]] movement sided with the [[Third Reich]] at the onset of the war with the [[United Kingdom]] in 1939, believing that a German victory might bring about a [[United Ireland]] {{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}.
In response to accusations that the state had failed to take up the moral fight against [[Nazism]], the Secretary of the [[Department of Foreign Affairs (Ireland)|Department of External Affairs]], [[Joe Walshe]], said in 1941 that:<ref>Collins, M.E., 1993, Ireland 1868-1966, Dublin: the Educational Company of Ireland. p. 371</ref>
{{cquote|… small nations like Ireland do not and cannot assume a role as defenders of just causes except [their] own ... Existence of our own people comes before all other considerations … no government has the right to court certain destruction for its people; they have to take the only chance of survival and stay out.}}
On 1 September 1939, in response to the [[Invasion of Poland (1939)|German invasion of Poland]], a hastily convened Dáil declared an immediate [[state of emergency]]. The day's debate culminated in the [[Emergency Powers Act 1939|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 [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Sudeten crisis]] a year before. In some respects, the Irish act was regarded as more drastic. The key provisions were as follows:{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=122}}
{{cquote|The government may, whenever and so often as they think fit, make by order (in this act referred to as an emergency order), such provisions as are, in the opinion of the government, necessary or expedient for securing the public safety, or the preservation of the state, or for the maintenance of public order, or the provision and control of supplies and services to the life of the community.}}
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 [[Neville Chamberlain#Declaration of war|British declaration of war]], the teenaged [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] watched as an [[effigy]] of [[Neville Chamberlain]] was publicly burnt in Dublin without any interference by the police. Cole sensed that there was:<ref>Cole G. and Hawkins B; ''The world was my lobster'', John Blake Publishing (2013) chapter 2.</ref>
{{cquote|...tremendous antipathy among the Irish towards the British at the time... to say it was frightening would be an understatement.
}}
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 [[black market]] underwent something of a boom.<ref>Bryce Evans, Ireland during the Second World War: Farewell to Plato's Cave (Manchester University Press, 2014)</ref>
President [[Douglas Hyde]] was a member of the [[Church of Ireland]], 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]], 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".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Horgan |first1=John |title=An Irishman's Diary |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.136956 |access-date=20 February 2019 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=21 February 1998 |language=en}}</ref>
===Prelude to war===
The Irish government had good reason to be concerned, lest the war in Europe re-open the wounds of the [[Irish Civil War|Civil War]]. There were pro- and anti-fascist movements in Ireland, and the [[Irish Republican Army (1922-1969)|IRA]] continued to pursue its own agenda.
Former [[Irish Republican Army|Old IRA]] commander and founder of the [[Fine Gael]] Party General [[Eoin O'Duffy]] became a leader of the paramilitary [[Army Comrades Association]] organisation in 1932–33.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200305/ai_n9263899 IRISH SECRETS: GERMAN ESPIONAGE IN WARTIME IRELAND, 1939–1945] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930085129/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200305/ai_n9263899/ |date=30 September 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucc.ie/icms/irishmigrationpolicy/Judaism%20The%20Jews%20of%20Ireland.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829221740/http://www.ucc.ie/icms/irishmigrationpolicy/Judaism%20The%20Jews%20of%20Ireland.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Jews of Ireland.|archive-date=29 August 2005}}</ref> In recognition of his consistent support for Ireland's Jews, [[Éamon de Valera]], Ireland's [[Taoiseach]] during the war, has a forest in [[Israel]] named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-64507455/the-jews-of-ireland|title=The Jews of Ireland|last=Tracy|first=Robert|year=1999|publisher=bNet.com|pages=7|access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref> In this context, it is relevant to note that ''two'' Irish contingents fought in the 1937 [[Spanish Civil War]]{{spaced ndash}}but on opposing sides. O'Duffy's [[Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)|Irish Brigade]] fought with the (Fascist) Nationalists and the [[Irish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War|Irish contingent]] of the [[International Brigades]] 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 (1922–1969)|Irish Republican Army]] violence and a [[S-Plan|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 Acts 1939–1998|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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-05-03 |title=The IRA's links with Nazi Germany {{!}} Frank Ryan |website=Queen's University Belfast |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/frankryan/InterpretativeResources/HistoricalContext/TheIRAslinkswithNaziGermany/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |language=en}}</ref> <!--citation request is for the fears, rather than the possibility-->
This threat was real: Russell, in May 1940, travelled to [[Berlin]] 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 (Ireland)|Operation Dove]].<ref>Seán Cronin: Frank Ryan, The Search for the Republic, Repsol, 1980. pp. 188–190</ref> 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 (Ireland)|Directorate of Military Intelligence (G2)]]. Active republicans were interned at the [[Curragh]] or given prison sentences: six men were hanged under newly legislated acts of treason and three more died on [[hunger strike#Irish republicans|hunger strike]].<ref>Collins, M.E., 1993, Ireland 1868-1966, Dublin: the Educational Company of Ireland. p. 373</ref> 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.<ref>The Earl of Longford and Thomas P. O'Neill: Éamon de Valera. Gill and MacMillan, Dublin, 1970. pp. 347–355</ref>
===Ports and trade===
{{tone|date=April 2022}}
{{see also|Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II}}
Ireland was isolated at the outbreak of the war.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ferriter|first=Diarmaid|title=What If? Alternative Views of Twentieth-Century Ireland.|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=2006|page=100|isbn=978-0-7171-3990-3|quote=(Quoting Garvin) Irish isolationism was a very powerful cultural sentiment at that time|author-link=Diarmaid Ferriter}}</ref> Shipping had been neglected since the [[Irish War of Independence|Irish independence]].<ref>McIvor, page 16</ref><ref name=tribunal>{{cite book|last=Gilligan|first=H.A.|title=A History of the Port of Dublin|publisher=Gill and Macmillan|location=Dublin|year=1988|page=166|isbn=0-7171-1578-X}}</ref> Foreign ships, on which Ireland had hitherto depended, were less available; and [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutral]] American ships refused to enter the "war zone".<ref>Spong, page 11. "in the period April 1941 and June 1942, only seven such ships visited the country"</ref><ref name=zone>{{cite book|last=Burne|first=Lester H|title=Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations: 1932–1988|editor=Richard Dean Burns|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|volume=2|page=537|isbn=978-0-415-93916-4}}</ref> 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]] address in 1940, [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]], lamented:
{{blockquote|"No country had ever been more effectively blockaded because of the activities of belligerents and our lack of ships, most of which had been sunk, which virtually cut all links with our normal sources of supply."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2004650654/ | title=Saint Patrick's Day message | website=[[Library of Congress]] }}</ref>}}
The diminutive [[Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II|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 [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutrals]] with bright lights and by painting the tricolour and EIRE in large letters on their [[Hull (watercraft)|sides]] and [[Deck (ship)|decks]],{{sfn|Fisk|1983|loc=p. 273: "Up to four huge tricolours were painted on the sides of each ship together with the word EIRE in letters twenty feet high"}} despite this, twenty percent of seamen were killed in the war. [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[convoy]]s often could not stop to pick up survivors.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gleichauf|first=Justin|page=115|title=Unsung Sailors|publisher=Bluejacket Books|year=2002|isbn=978-1-55750-420-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sinclair|first=Andrew|title=Blood & Kin: an empire saga|publisher=[[Sinclair-Stevenson]]|year=2001|page=561|isbn=978-0-9540476-3-4|quote=... or we're sitting ducks. So we sail past all these drowning sailors, and they call up to us, and we must sail on. I remember one crying, 'Taxi! Taxi!'.  We didn't stop.}}</ref> Irish mariners would rescue seafarers from both sides, but they were attacked by both, predominantly by the [[Axis powers]]. 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.{{sfn|Fisk|1983|p=276}}
In addition, some British ships were repaired in Irish shipyards.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sweeney|first=Pat|title=Liffey Ships|year=2010|publisher=Mercier|isbn=978-1-85635-685-5|page=227}}</ref>
Despite being frequently encountered as [[rumour]]s, no [[U-boat]]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 {{GS|U-35|1936|6}} onto the Irish coast, after the U-boat commander [[Werner Lott]] sank their Greek cargo freighter, which was bound for Britain with metal ore.<ref name="u-35.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.u-35.com/sources/Kerryman1999.htm|title=Kerryman 1999|website=u-35.com}}</ref> This U-boat incident was featured on the cover of the popular U.S. ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' 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 noted that the U-boat had conducted the action and re-submerged before coastal defence aircraft could be directed onto the trespassing vessel.<ref name="u-35.com"/><ref>{{cite journal|date=16 October 1939|title=War on U-Boats|journal=Life Magazine|publisher=Time-Life|pages=Cover and p. 79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUIEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22life+magazine%22}}</ref>
== 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.{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} While the revolutionaries of the [[Irish War of Independence]] 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:{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=121}}
{{cquote|An independent Ireland would see its own independence in jeopardy the moment it saw the independence of Britain seriously threatened. Mutual self-interest would make the people of these two islands, if both independent, the closest of allies in a moment of real national danger to either.}}
This statement reflected a point de Valera had made as early as 1918 (when writing to President of the United States [[Woodrow Wilson]], seeking that the United States formally recognise the [[Irish Republic]] as an independent state):{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=121}}
{{cquote|Ireland is quite ready by treaty to ensure England's safety against the danger of foreign powers seeking to use Ireland as a basis of attack against her.}}
After the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|Italian conquest of Abyssinia]] in 1936, de Valera said at the [[League of Nations]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.difp.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=1716|title=Speech by Éamon de Valera at the League of Nations Assembly|date=2 July 1936|work=Documents on Irish Foreign Policy|publisher=Royal Irish Academy|pages=No. 347 NAI DFA 26/94|access-date=27 March 2011}}</ref>
{{cquote|peace is dependent upon the will of the great States. All the small States can do, if the statesmen of the greater States fail in their duty, is resolutely to determine that they will not become the tools of any great Power and that they will resist with whatever strength they may possess every attempt to force them into a war against their will. }}
Months before the outbreak of war, de Valera gave a statement to the [[Associated Press]] which appeared in newspapers on 20 February 1939:<ref>Dáil Debates, 22 March 1939.</ref>
{{cquote|The desire of the Irish people and the desire of the Irish Government is to keep our nation out of war. The aim of Government policy is to maintain and to preserve our neutrality in the event of war. The best way and the only way to secure our aim is to put ourselves in the best position possible to defend ourselves so that no one can hope to attack us or violate our territory with impunity. We know, of course, that should attack come from a power other than Great Britain, Great Britain in her own interest must help us to repel it.}}
===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]], British envoy [[Malcolm MacDonald]] brought a proposal to end the [[partition of Ireland]] 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]]", 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".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/news-from-a-new-republic-ireland-in-the-1950s/|title=News from a new republic Ireland in the 1950s|date=1 March 2013}}</ref> The offer and his rejection remained secret until a biography was published in 1970.<ref>[[Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford|Longford, Earl of]] & [[Tip O'Neill|O'Neill, T.P.]] ''Éamon de Valera'' (Hutchinson 1970; Arrow paperback 1974) Arrow pp.365–368.  {{ISBN|0-09-909520-3}}</ref> 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."<ref>Bromage, pg 144.</ref> De Valera had campaigned against partition and the [[Irish Constitution|1937 Constitution]] drafted by him had an [[irredentism|irredentist]] clause describing the State as the "whole island of Ireland". After the war he again called repeatedly for the ending of partition.
===Mixed effects===
[[File:Bekanntmachung 1942 Irish Free State citizens Jersey.jpg|thumb|Notice from [[German-occupied Jersey]] inviting Irish citizens to register as "nationals of a neutral state."]]
In April 1941, the question of Ireland's entry into the war was again raised when the Australian Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies|Menzies]] paid a visit to Belfast and Dublin for private discussions with De Valera and [[J. M. Andrews|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.<ref>{{cite web
| date = 10 April 1941
| title = Memorandum by Mr R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister
| page = 1
| publisher = [[Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)]]
| url = http://www.info.dfat.gov.au/info/historical/HistDocs.nsf/d30d79e4ab5621f9ca256c8600163c0d/c71cbcc92ea9d5b9ca256b7e0012832d?OpenDocument
| access-date = 27 December 2008
}}
</ref>
Without the [[treaty ports (Ireland)|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."<ref>{{cite book|last=Lee |first=J.J. |author-link=J. J. Lee (historian)|year=1989 |title=Ireland 1912–1985 |location=Cambridge |publisher=University of Cambridge |page=244}}</ref> 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]] to prepare plans to seize Cork and Queenstown ([[Cobh]]) so their harbours could be used as naval bases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/855-churchill-had-plan-to-invade-nazi-ireland |title=Churchill had Plan to Invade 'Nazi' Ireland |publisher=Winstonchurchill.org |date=21 March 2010 |access-date=1 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319181421/http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/855-churchill-had-plan-to-invade-nazi-ireland |archive-date=19 March 2012 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/finest-hour-online/833--winston-churchill-a-eamon-de-valera-a-thirty-year-relationship |title=Winston Churchill & Éamon de Valera: A Thirty Year "Relationship" |publisher=Winstonchurchill.org |access-date=1 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703212616/http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/finest-hour-online/833--winston-churchill-a-eamon-de-valera-a-thirty-year-relationship |archive-date= 3 July 2010 }}</ref>
In this regard [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|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.{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=124–125}} (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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Michael|title=Guarding Neutral Ireland|year=2008|publisher=Four Courts Press|location=Dublin|isbn=978-1-84682-097-7|page=148}}</ref> 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."<ref name=collins374>Collins, M.E., 1993, Ireland 1868-1966, Dublin: the Educational Company of Ireland, pg. 374</ref> The co-operation that emerged allowed for meetings to take place to consider events after German troops had overrun neutral [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[the Netherlands]], [[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.<ref name=collins374/> 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."<ref name=collins374/>
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.'<ref>Lee, J.J., 1989, Ireland 1912–1985, Cambridge: University of Cambridge, pg. 248</ref> 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. {{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} 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".<ref>Lee, J.J., 1989, Ireland 1912–1985, Cambridge: University of Cambridge, pg. 253</ref>
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|paratrooper]]s "liberated [[Derry]]". According to Gray, de Valera was silent for a time and then replied "I don't know".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bew|first=Paul|title=Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789–2006|url=https://archive.org/details/irelandpoliticse00bewp|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/irelandpoliticse00bewp/page/n482 468]|isbn=978-0-19-820555-5|quote=Then he added:"Please don't mention that to anybody.  It might get around"}}</ref>
===Condolences on Hitler's death===
Ireland maintained a public stance of neutrality to the end by refusing to close the German and Japanese [[Legation]]s. The [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]] 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.<ref name="ind20051231">{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hyde-and-de-valera-offered-condolences-on-hitlers-death/25954338.html | title=Hyde (and de Valera) offered condolences on Hitler's death | work=Irish Independent | date=31 December 2005 | access-date=26 April 2012}}</ref> Irish envoys in other nations did likewise, but no other Western European democracies followed Ireland's example.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ibtimes.com/irish-nationalist-nazi-when-eamon-de-valera-paid-his-respects-adolf-hitler-1403768 | title=The Irish Nationalist and the Nazi: When Éamon de Valera Paid His Respects To Adolf Hitler | work=International Business Times | date=10 September 2013 | access-date=28 June 2015}}</ref> The visits caused a storm of protest in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |
url=http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/AAE/Article.pdf
|title=Éamon de Valera and Hitler
|author=Dermot Keogh
|work=Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 3, No 1, p. 84
|year=1989}}</ref>
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.{{sfn|Bew|2007|p=474}}
===Position on Jewish refugees===
{{main|History of the Jews in Ireland#World War II and aftermath}}
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.<ref>Section on Clonyn Castle in Holocaust Memorial Day 2003 Program Booklet, January 2003, Holocaust Memorial Day. Dublin: The Holocaust Memorial Day Committee in association with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Dublin City Council http://hetireland.org/app/uploads/2015/02/HMD2003.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928150406/http://hetireland.org/app/uploads/2015/02/HMD2003.pdf |date=28 September 2015 }} accessed 2015-09-27</ref> 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".<ref>[http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0091/D.0091.194307090010.html Dáil Éireann - Volume 91 - 9 July 1943] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204209/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0091/D.0091.194307090010.html |date=29 October 2013 }} – antisemitic speech to the Dáil by Oliver J. Flanagan</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/life/horrid-history-troubled-past-irishjewish-relations-30471952.html |title=Horrid History: troubled past Irish-Jewish relations |date=2014-08-03 |work=Irish Independent}}</ref>
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".<ref>[http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2003-4/ireland.htm Republic of Ireland] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604071129/http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2003-4/ireland.htm |date=4 June 2011 }} – [[Stephen Roth Institute]]</ref> Dr. Mervyn O'Driscoll of [[University College Cork]] reported on the unofficial and official barriers that prevented Jews from finding refuge in Ireland:
{{blockquote|Although overt anti-Semitism was not typical, the Southern Irish were indifferent to the Nazi persecution of the Jews and those fleeing the [T]hird Reich….A successful applicant in 1938 was typically wealthy, middle-aged or elderly, single from [[Austria]], Roman Catholic and desiring to retire in peace to Ireland and not engage in employment. Only a few [[Vienna|Viennese]] bankers and industrialists met the strict criterion of being Catholic, although possibly of Jewish descent, capable of supporting themselves comfortably without involvement in the economic life of the country.<ref>"Let's do better than the indifference we showed during the Holocaust – ''[[Irish Examiner]]'', 20 March 2004</ref>}}
==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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://letterboxd.com/film/my-life-for-ireland-1941/ | title=My Life for Ireland (1941) }}</ref>
== 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
<blockquote>"we never laid a violent hand upon them, which at times would have been quite easy and quite natural."
</blockquote>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:<ref>Collins, M.E., 1993, Ireland 1868-1966, Dublin: the Educational Company of Ireland, pg. 383</ref><ref>[[Clair Wills]], 2007, That Neutral Island: A Cultural History of Ireland During the Second World War</ref>
{{cquote|…could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone, not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression…a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?}}
In addition, he put the following, that
{{cquote|I would like to put a hypothetical question— it is a question I have put to many Englishmen since the last war. Suppose Germany had won the war, had invaded and occupied England, and that after a long lapse of time and many bitter struggles, she was finally brought to acquiesce in admitting England's right to freedom, and let England go, but not the whole of England, all but, let us say, the six southern counties.
These six southern counties, those, let us suppose, commanding the entrance to the narrow seas, Germany had singled out and insisted on holding herself with a view to weakening England as a whole, and maintaining the securing of her own communications through the Straits of Dover.
Let us suppose further, that after all this had happened, Germany was engaged in a great war in which she could show that she was on the side of freedom of a number of small nations, would Mr. Churchill as an Englishman who believed that his own nation had as good a right to freedom as any other, not freedom for a part merely, but freedom for the whole-would he, whilst Germany still maintained the partition of his country and occupied six counties of it, would he lead this partitioned England to join with Germany in a crusade? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.
Would he think the people of partitioned England an object of shame if they stood neutral in such circumstances? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.}}
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, is 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:
{{cquote|The tensions – and the liberations – of war, the shared experience, the comradeship in suffering, the new thinking about the future, all these things had passed her by. It was as if an entire people had been condemned to live in [[Allegory of the cave|Plato's cave]], with their backs to the fire of life and deriving their only knowledge of what went on outside from the flickering shadows thrown on the wall before their eyes by the men and women who passed to and fro behind them. When after six years they emerged, from the cave into the light of day, it was a new and vastly different world.{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=226}}}}
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 ..."{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=127}}
== The Cranborne Report ==
[[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury|Viscount Cranborne]], the British [[Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs]], wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the [[Coalition Government 1940–1945|British War Cabinet]] regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:{{sfn|Fanning|1983|p=124–125}}
# 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|veto]]ed by the [[Soviet Union]], a [[Permanent members of the UN security council|permanent member of the Security Council]], from 1946 to December 1955.<ref>Elizabeth Keane – ''An Irish Statesman and Revolutionary: the nationalist and internationalist politics of Sean MacBride'' – London: I.B.Tauris Publishers {{ISBN|1-84511-125-7}}  "The Soviet Union vetoed the application's entry ostensibly on the grounds that Ireland had no diplomatic presence in the Soviet Union and that during the war, Ireland did not help the Allies, instead offering support to the Axis and [[Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)|Franco's Spain]].  Ireland's anti-communist stance was probably more responsible; the membership of the General Assembly was weighted towards the Western Bloc, and the Soviet Union did not want its position in the Assembly weakened." (page 150)</ref>
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]], whose final Secretary-General was Irish diplomat [[Seán Lester]].<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://biblio-archive.unog.ch/Detail.aspx?ID=32556 |title=Lester, Sean, 1929– (Sub-Fonds) |publisher=UNOG Library |access-date=6 November 2010 }}</ref>
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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yalta Conference |website=[[Oireachtas|Houses of the Oireachtas]] |date=29 March 1955 |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1955-03-29/16/ |access-date=28 September 2018 }} This seems unlikely, given that Yalta was held a year before Ireland's application to join the UN, and was based on press speculation.</ref> Ireland's acceptance into the UN was announced by [[John A. Costello]] on 15 December 1955.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ireland's Membership of U.N.O. |website=[[Oireachtas|Houses of the Oireachtas]] |date=15 December 1955 |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1955-12-15/79/ |access-date=28 September 2018 }}</ref>
== 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), ''[http://www.difp.ie/browse-volumes/Volume.asp?VolumeID=6&st=ye&yr=1939 Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Volume VI: 1939–1941]'' ([[Royal Irish Academy]], Dublin 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-904890-51-5}}
* 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) {{ISBN|978-1-904890-63-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Fanning |first=Ronan |author-link=Ronan Fanning|year=1983 |title=Independent Ireland |location=Dublin |publisher=Helicon, Ltd.}}
* {{cite book|last=Fisk |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Fisk |title=In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality 1939–1945 |publisher=A. Deutsch; Brandon |location=Ireland |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-233975-14-6}}
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.csn.ul.ie/~dan/war/ssvols.htm Irish Volunteers in WWII German SS service] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213093856/http://www.csn.ul.ie/~dan/war/ssvols.htm |date=13 February 2009 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721130049/http://www.mariner.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/G2-and-the-coastwatching-service.pdf 2010 essay by Michael Kennedy on the Irish coast-watching service in WW2]
* [http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/eur/ire/ww2-ire.html Histclo.com: Ireland in World War II]
* [https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/why-did-the-irish-volunteer-as-british-officers-in-wwii-1.1846436 Irish Times article on why the Irish volunteered for the British forces]
{{WWII history by nation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Neutrality During World War Ii}}
[[Category:Foreign relations of Ireland]]
[[Category:Independent Ireland in World War II|*]]
[[Category:Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations]]
[[Category:Neutral states in World War II]]
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[[Category:Germany–Ireland relations]]
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