David Norris (Independent)

I wish to share time with Senator O'Toole and perhaps with Senator Ross, who may have an opportunity to join us.

I welcome this discussion and express my admiration for the work done by Senators Mooney and Hayes. Until quite recently, I was not aware of the considerable body of work they have been doing through the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body, which is a very useful forum in which to do such work. I have raised this issue on a number of occasions in the past because I was contacted by the Shot at Dawn Campaign, initially by the British campaign and also by Mr. Mulvany and his group in Ireland. They have produced a most excellent, heart-rending and moving briefing.

I listened carefully to the Minister's speech and was glad to note the generous comments by the late Taoiseach, Mr. Seán Lemass, of which I was unaware. That is very important and to be welcomed. The Minister also said that the soldiers had the highest possible motivations for enlisting and that is true, to a certain extent. However, some of the Irish men, most poignantly, were motivated by sheer poverty. People joined the British army because there was damn all else for them in this country. Having come from such conditions and to then be treated in the manner in which they were by the British army, is absolutely shameful and an attempt to dishonour them.

Senator Mooney is a much more Christian person than I am, which I have known for a long time. I have no problem criticising the then British Government and the officer class. Both richly deserve that, even though my father fought in the First World War, was heavily decorated and among others was awarded the Lloyd's medal, colloquially known as the marine Victoria Cross. As a small child I recall him being horrified by these events. So many of the people who fought valiantly on their side disassociated themselves from these events.

The Minister refers to the men being executed. In my opinion, they were murdered; it was nothing less than judicial murder. AnthonyBabington, for example, indicates no due process was involved. It was a drumhead court martial, where the soldiers were unrepresented and did not even have a prisoner's friend. They were alone, often ill, shell-shocked, disturbed when brought up before these cursory procedures to be then taken out and shot. It was done as other Senators stated, as exemplary justice. Pour encourage les autres or, as was more the case, pour décourager les autres.

Leonard Sellers in his work For God's Sake Shoot Straight stated:

It was a great shock when I opened the file listing details of executions in the Great War. What I found amazed and deeply troubled me. There were names, ages and details. I discovered that they were so young, so vulnerable and so alone . . . In only three cases did the prisoner have the benefit of a prisoner's friend. These young men, on trial for their lives, went before their superiors without legal representations or assistance. The knowledge of this is horrific, and has deep implications.

It is inappropriate for the British Government to procrastinate on the matter. It is easy for it to use the case of Mrs. Harris, the daughter of Private Harry Farr. Why is the British Government appealing the case? It must acknowledge that a gross injustice has been done as Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand have. The New Zealand Government not only issued a retrospective pardon but re-issued whatever medals those shot had won. There should be some similar appropriate measure from our Government.

I am glad to learn a friend and former colleague from the English department in Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Gerald Morgan, has adopted five of these Irish soldiers at a ceremony near Lichfield in Staffordshire. He has suggested a small but dignified memorial to salute the human experience of these men should be erected at Islandbridge. They are part of the tragedy of the First World War. Some part of that has been achieved by the recording of their names. It is shocking to learn their names were not even dignified by being recorded but dishonoured.

It is important that what these soldiers went through is recognised. Shell-shock is a real condition. I remember one gentleman in the choir at Christ Church Cathedral suffered from it. I will conclude with a quote from Wilfrid Owen's poem Dulce et Decorum Est.

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, ...

...My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

Pro patria mori.

We owe it to these tragic victims.