Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It should not be forgotten this was at a time Nazi Germany was supplying General Franco of Spain with the hardware to bomb towns and cities such as Guernica and to gun down many brave Spanish and international comrades at battlefronts across the Spanish state. I wonder when the State or the church will apologise to the volunteers and their families who had to sneak out of the country to fight the evils of fascism which they understood three years before the outbreak of the Second World War. They understood the dangers of Franco's dictatorship and the ideals he, Hitler and others in Europe shared at this stage. Those volunteers were excommunicated, ostracised and discriminated against by the church and elements in the State because they had the gall and bravery to stand up for the greater good of society and against the evils of fascism, whether it was in Ireland or in Europe. They suffered the same retribution Irish republicans and their families suffered during the foundation of the State, the Civil War and for a number of years afterwards in Ireland through torture, imprisonment and execution, ostracisation, exile, discrimination, being pilloried and censure.

It is interesting that a Fine Gael Minister in introducing the Bill acknowledged that the State wronged those who were fighting fascism, given their Blueshirt history. His party is a merger of the Blueshirts, the Army Comrades Association, National Guard, Cumann na nGaedhael, the National Centre Party and some southern Unionists. It is not that they gave a good account of themselves fighting fascism in Spain because they spent most of their time cowering in the trenches or, when ordered from the front by Franco, cowering in the wine bars before being sent home in disgrace. There have been no apologies from Fine Gael for the wrongs done to them and their families.

Where is the amnesty or pardon for the members of the Defence Forces who joined the Free State forces in the mistaken belief they would stand by the Republic but then left, having seen sense, to join the IRA during the civil war? No such apology has been given and the individuals in question have not been recognised. Chun filleadh ar an príomh cheist atá ag déanamh tinneas duinn inniu, tá sé tabhachtach nach bhfuil dabht ar bith orainn maidir le stair an Dar Chogadh Domhanda.

The Minister described the State's neutrality position during the Second World War as a "principle of moral bankruptcy" in the context of the Holocaust. While debate on this issue is for forums other than this Chamber, in academia and elsewhere, I do not believe the Minister is correct. It was not the Holocaust that motivated the Allied powers to come together; they were motivated by a wish to defeat the Axis powers. The USSR and United States both remained neutral until they were attacked and did not join the war as a result of the Holocaust. Regardless of one's views on the rights or wrongs of their positions, these are the facts.

Among the 5,000 deserters - the figure is in dispute and may have been higher or substantially lower than this - many may have been ideologically motivated to leave the Defence Forces and defect to fight the Nazis. Ideologically motivated or not, we should not misread the motivation of the Allied side in the early years of the war. To do so is not to deny in any way the right and need to commemorate the memories of those who fought and what they fought against in the full context of the war.

Those who returned from the war were effectively blacklisted from employment, which consigned many of them poverty. This discrimination was wrong and the State should have redressed it and the consequential poverty the individuals in question and their families had to endure years ago. It is good, therefore, that this is being done today. The emergency powers order denied these individuals the opportunity to defend themselves and their actions. Given the time that has elapsed, it is impractical to visit each and every case of desertion and, therefore, it is much more appropriate to proceed with the Bill.

We should not be surprised by the manner in which the de Valera Government responded at the time given. It also interned more than 2,000 republicans in the Curragh during the period it referred to as the Emergency. Moreover, it showed scant regard for the rights of those who were held in the Curragh and it was brutal in its use of special powers. It broke the men, many of whom were so distressed by the inhumane conditions in which they were forced to live that they simply could not function in normal society once they were released. This is a legacy with which society must also live.

Three prisoners died on hunger strike against their imprisonment and the conditions in which they were held. Jack McNeela, Tony D'Arcy and Sean McCaughey died protesting the conditions in the Curragh prison camps. During Sean McCaughey's inquest, it was made known that he had not been outside in the fresh air or sunlight for four and a half years and had been kept for months on end in solitary confinement. Seán McBride, acting as counsel for the next-of-kin at the inquest, asked the prison doctor if he would keep a dog in such conditions, to which the doctor replied he would not. The treatment of republican prisoners was in stark contrast to how certain other categories of prisoners were treated in the Curragh. Soldiers from the Allied and Axis powers found themselves in Ireland during the Second World War and were held, following capture, as prisoners of war in the Curragh prison camp. In contrast with republican prisoners, they were wined and dined, as it were, and in some cases British soldiers were allowed to attend social functions outside the camp. Some of them even had their own bicycles and were allowed to travel to Dublin for events under supervision. The position was bizarre, especially as others who had not been convicted and were not combatants in the war were not afforded similar rights.

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