Irish neutrality during World War II
The policy of 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 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. 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 Ireland 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 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.
Prewar relationship with Britain
Ireland was in 1939 nominally a Dominion of the British Empire and a member of the Commonwealth. The nation had gained 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 new constitution was adopted by a plebiscite in 1937. The Statute of Westminster 1931 meant that unlike in World War I, 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. 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 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 Royal Air Force, some rising up the ranks rapidly, such as the youngest wing commander fighter ace 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 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.
In response to accusations that the state had failed to take up the moral fight against Nazism, 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, a hastily convened Dáil declared an immediate state of emergency. 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 of Neville Chamberlain 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 black market underwent something of a boom.
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".
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. 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 Party General Eoin O'Duffy became a leader of the paramilitary Army Comrades Association organisation in 1932–1933. 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. In this context, it is relevant to note that two Irish contingents fought in the 1937 Spanish Civil Warbut on opposing sides. O'Duffy's Irish Brigade fought with the Nationalists and the 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 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 might link up with German agents, thereby compromising Irish non-involvement, was considered.
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. 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. 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. 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 address in 1940, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, 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 convoys 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. 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-boats 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. 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 noting that the U-boat had conducted the action and re-submerged before coastal defence aircraft could be directed onto the trespassing vessel.