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

They were a threat to the State because they were British soldiers in uniform when they landed here. They should have been considered a risk. Their treatment was a far cry from the fate that befell republicans who were kept in solitary confinement in the Curragh camp under de Valera's regime.

The authorities were no strangers to coming down hard on republicans. Despite interventions from everyone from Seán MacBride to Oliver J Flanagan and members of the Labour Party, de Valera's Government contracted the infamous British executioner, Albert Pierrepoint, to hang Charlie Kerins. Kerins joined the IRA after the Government used the pretext of the Emergency to up the ante and come down more harshly on republicans, resulting in the unspeakable cruelty that took place in the Curragh.

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