Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. This is good legislation, which closes a chapter in history. World War II was not that long ago and many people are alive today with fresh and painful memories of it. It is strange when one thinks that people usually desert to get away from action as a matter of conscience or because they do not want to face battle, but these people left a peaceful country to go into battle, which is unusual. They joined an army of another country to fight on the same side against the Nazis and the imperialist forces in the far east that threatened the world's stability. We can all relate to the war in some way because our parents or our grandparents can recall it. When I was in the Philippines as a young student in the late 1970s, I visited American war graves. There were 18,000 names in a marble room. One of the names was James Harte aged 21, which was not far off my age at the time. The war is still raw in this country and throughout the world. If those who were dismissed and regarded as traitors of the country read the transcript of the debate, they will see they are being recognised as people who put their lives at risk to defend the democracy we are participating in today in the House. I thank the Minister of State and congratulate the Department.