Irish intervention in World War Two would have led to violence, not prevented it

Dominic Gallagher (‘Ireland entering world war could have prevented the Troubles,’ November 24, see link below) suggests that had Ireland entered the second World War, the ‘Troubles’ could have averted.

I reject this.

During the war years, the fallout from partition following the Anglo Irish conflict was still vivid in the public mind, seeing as how it was just 17 years since the guns of the civil war had fallen silent, and for both sides in the bitter internecine bloodbath the British were still the common enemy.

The decision of Dáil Éireann to remain neutral in all probability avoided an outbreak of a second civil conflict here.

Critics ignore the fact that all political parties in the Dáil, along with public opinion outside, favoured the policy of neutrality.

Even those Dáil members who were strong supporters of the allied cause, and there were many, voted to remain neutral.

Furthermore, proposals from prime minister Churchill, who dangled the prospect of reunification in 1940 as a quid pro quo for Irish entry into the war, was rejected by Mr de Valera who was not prepared to send a generation of Irishmen to early graves as Redmond had done in the Great War.

Our neutrality, sovereignty and independence were not for sale.

Despite our position as a non belligerent neutral state, Ireland did not introduce a prohibition on her citizens opting for foreign enlistment before or during the war, nor did Ireland introduce conscription into her armed forces.

At a time when Europe was engulfed in terrible war, with the danger of British or German invasion of Ireland, as belligerently expressed by Churchill in his victory speech in 1945, these soldiers of the Irish Army showed loyalty, honour and valour.

Mr de Valera’s expression of condolences to the German Ambassador to Ireland Herr Hempel after the death of Adolf Hitler in 1945 was criticised by Mr Gallagher.

Having adhered to a strict policy of neutrality throughout the war, a policy that was neutral in form if collaborative with the Allies in practice, Mr de Valera applied an equally strict policy of adherence to protocol which obliged him to offer the condolences of the Irish people on the death of Herr Hitler.

Tom Cooper, Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Ireland entering the second world war could have prevented the Troubles

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