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Extract The 'daily problems' in maintaining Ireland's neutrality during WW2

Confidential documents from the 1940s show that the maintenance of Ireland’s neutrality was going be difficult – and hard decisions on policy would have to be made practically every day.

In a memorandum from Michael Rynne, the Legal Adviser for the Department of External Affairs (1939-50) to Joseph P Walshe, the Secretary to the Department of External Affairs, the issue of how to safeguard Ireland’s neutrality is discussed. The report was marked “Most Secret”.

IT IS BECOMING increasingly obvious that the maintenance of our neutrality is going to involve us, practically every day, in difficult decisions of policy. I have been considering one such ‘daily problem’ since yesterday. The legal answer to that problem is, as usual, quite easy to find. But, if we want to stay out of war, we must not tie ourselves to the strict law, and yet we cannot embark with safety on a policy of applying the law to one belligerent and waiving it in favour of another.

What are the essential facts of our position?

Although the question-mark is only too evident, one may hazard the following reply:

a) we represent at least one State of the Commonwealth which does not believe in the righteousness of Britain, of which British propaganda is trying to convince the world;

b) our neutrality may inconvenience Britain’s blockade policy;

c) our neutrality, preventing the stampeding of the population into the British block, may be hoped to serve as a slight distraction to a belligerent Britain.

Between thirty and forty persons were killed and many more injured in a bombing raid on Dublin May 30, 1941 . Damage as widespread dozens of houses and many other building demolished, investigations proved the bombs dropped were of German origin. The Eireann government protested to Berlin. Rescue workers among the scattered debris of bomb wrecked buildings in Dublin. (AP Photo)

The British are resigned to our neutrality

Of these three reasons, I think that reason a) is self-sufficient. The moral effect of our declared neutrality is worth so much to Germany that she will not want to disturb our status quo. The British are resigned to our neutrality on certain terms. They know that, if we were not neutral to a fairly considerable extent,

  • encouragement would be given to the pro-German element here which might eventually carry the day. To prevent such a possibility, Britain would have to ‘lend’ us troops that she could ill afford. How much better to let the country be held ‘benevolently neutral’ by an Irish Government plus a small Irish Army and Police. Should those means fail, the matter can always be reconsidered;
  • a neutral island (whose neutrality has been promised respect by Germany) just next door has its advantages for Britain as an evacuation area, base hospital and centre of espionage, or, perhaps, counter-espionage;
  • if we went ‘loyal’ to all appearances, we might be expected to insist on our pound of flesh in Ulster at a very awkward time. That might mean 1914 and 1916 all over again. ‘The Irish cannot be trusted’ – ‘The Irish will always have a grievance’.

Neutrality suits both belligerents

To conclude, given that the above premises are all fairly well-founded, we may take the view that our neutrality suits both belligerents at the moment. The Germans are so pleased that they have promised to recognise the status we have assumed, but the British are holding back for terms. In parenthesis, it may be remarked that neither belligerent is in the least likely to respect our ‘neutral rights’ in practice – but there we will be no worse off than any other small neutral country.

The main problem, therefore, that appears to confront us now is not a day-to-day problem (such as the ‘Cabot’ messages), but the question of what terms we will concede to Britain for what quid pro quo. This may not be realised as yet (which is the reason for this note) by our Government; it is, however, fully appreciated in Great Britain. By conveying the impression that they are ‘disappointed’ by our attitude to the present war, the British are succeeding in conveying a menace to our integrity.

Yet, it is clear, by hypothesis, that our attitude suits them just now. Why, then, do the British pretend to resent our neutrality, as exemplified by their reception of our recent Aide-Memoire?Admitted that Irish neutrality and the Aide-Memoire represent a technical breach in the moral solidarity of the Empire, does not the real reason of Britain’s lack of cordiality lie in her determination to extract good ‘terms’ from us?

Homes on the North strand wrecked by German bombs in Dublin, May 30, 1941.  (AP Photo)

Need for formal recognition

The suggestion made here is that we stiffen up our give-and-take policy at once vis-à-vis the British. We know they are prepared to recognise our neutrality, therefore, should we not initiate at once a plan to obtain that recognition in formal terms precisely as we were accorded it by the Germans? It would seem not only absurd but distinctly dangerous to concede to a belligerent, whom we regard as a potential invader and who refuses to recognise us as a neutral country in a formal way, special privileges contrary to every ordinary rule of international neutrality law. But, granted a formal recognition such as the Germans gave us, the position might be different. We would be safer from invasion, inasmuch as Britain would find it harder to justify the invasion of a country whose neutrality she had agreed to respect.

The object is worth struggling for. The struggle might begin now with a stiff refusal to permit the ‘Cabot’ to use the Foynes radio station for un-neutral purposes, and might be followed up by a strong complaint against such incidents as the newspaper interview of the British airmen who landed on our waters.

That incident can only be interpreted as an attempt to embroil us with the Germans, thus destroying our neutrality and landing us into the war. It was a complete let-down of the give and take policy – ‘perfidious Albion’ at her worst. How can the Government possibly be expected to be helpful at the present critical time (when the Treason Act is being availed of) if the British do not take Irish neutrality more seriously than that?

The best and, indeed, the only solution from every point of view is that the British recognise and publish their recognition of our complete neutrality forthwith. We will then consider ways and means of co-operating as far as we can within the limits of technical neutrality. Otherwise, it may not be possible to guarantee a peaceful Ireland, so essential to Britain’s immediate future.

This report is taken from the sixth published volume of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP) online is a dark read, where the threat to the relatively new Irish state’s independence was imminent and over-powering.  The series, produced by the Royal Irish Academy with support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and National Archives of Ireland, offers a unique insight into the outlook and mindset of diplomats and the Irish government during Ireland’s first international crisis as an independent nation. The volume is edited by Dr Michael Kennedy. For more information about upcoming document releases follow @DIFP_RIA on Twitter.

Extract: ‘We must anticipate war’ – 1945 Irish diplomats on the threat of World War III>

Extract: ‘Mr de Valera’s conviction that Hitler would win the war was stupid’>

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45 Comments
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    Mute Declan Lyne
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:02 AM

    People who go on holidays once in a blue moon are not the issue !!!

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    Mute Wooden Spoon
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:07 AM

    @Declan Lyne: I always feel terrible for going abroad on holidays while those poor big companies pollute the world like never before.

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:09 AM

    @Wooden Spoon: Because you deserve it wooden spoon. It’s hard earned.

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    Mute Urban Living Dublin
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:11 AM

    @Declan Lyne: you’re probably right. 1% of flyers were responsible for 50% of air travel carbon emissions in 2018. 90% of the world population didn’t fly at all in 2018.
    Might be good to tackle the low-hanging fruit first: private jets, domestic flights and routes for which easy and affordable alternatives are available.
    Tradable flight credits have been postulated, which would put the burden on those who fly a lot and might be profitable for those that fly very little. However, difficult to figure out how to implement such a system.

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    Mute Mary Fitzsimons
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:36 AM

    @Declan Lyne: actually they are. As they provide the raison d’etre for big airlines and travel companies.

    9
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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:40 AM

    @Urban Living Dublin: hasn’t France brought in taxes to stop people flying less than a certain distance to make them use trains

    21
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    Mute Urban Living Dublin
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:54 AM

    @Garreth mc mahon: correct. They’re banning domestic flights to places that have good rail connections. I’d see the EU doing something similar in the future for continental Europe.

    35
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    Mute Joe_X
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:32 PM

    @Urban Living Dublin: Funny how yourself and some of the others seem to think trains are automatically more efficient than aircraft. How much fuel does the train use per person, compared to say a B737-800 (a Ryanair aircraft) per person? The figures for the 737 are as follows: Including the crew carries 195 people which when fully loaded has a range of just under 3200 miles and carries 20 tonnes of fuel. Also remember that the larger the aircraft, the more effecient that figure becomes.
    Any one got similar figures for trains so that it can be worked out?

    8
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    Mute Urban Living Dublin
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:44 PM

    @Joe_X: European Environment Agency figures, CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer:
    Train = 14 grams
    Car = 158 grams
    Plane = 285 grams

    Don’t forget also that many trains in Europe run on electricity, which can come from renewables.

    22
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    Mute Joe_X
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 1:32 PM

    @Urban Living Dublin: Fair point on the Electrical trains, but however, most electric trains are used within city distances, like the DART here, basically places you would never use an aircraft for, and the diesel engines on the intercity/ international routes, which would be more comparable to aircraft usage, so it is not really comparing like with like!

    As you probably know, I am biased towards aircraft as I work with them, and the engines of such are getting more effecient with each generation. E.G. the LEAP engines on the current versions A320 AND B737, vs the older CFM56s that were used.

    5
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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:37 AM

    I’m travelling as much as I can before leisure travel is curtailed as I feel that will most definitely happen within my lifetime.
    I don’t have kids and I use public transport for travelling to work so I’ll use the carbon credits I save on those two things for my holidays.
    And I won’t ever feel one bit guilty having approx 10 flights a year.
    It’s cheaper to go on a day trip to London than it is to get the train down to Cork.

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:51 AM

    @Fi Wyse: Wow. What a stooopid comment. Well, at leat you’re aware of your carbon credits. Go you!

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    Mute Joe Vlogs
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:35 AM

    @Fi Wyse: 10 flights a year creates far more emissions than you can offset using public transport, since public transport isn’t carbon neutral either and the emissions per person for flying is high. An economy return flight from Dublin to JFK will create 1.7 tonnes of carbon emissions. That one return trip is equal to 170 trips from Navan to Dublin in a pretty regular diesel car. In order to stop climate change, it is estimated that a single person should emit 0.6 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Yet you are taking 10 flights a year, and even if they are short haul, the emissions will still be very high as take off and landing is when emissions are highest. The reason why leisure travel will be curtailed is because people like you live like the world revolves around you – the wealthy world creates disproportionately high and unsustainable carbon emissions, yet much of this can be curtailed through personal choices. If you were actually interested in foreign holidays, you would use all the days you are having abroad, and then combine them into one foreign holiday, reducing the transport requirements. But hey, at least you don’t feel guilty.

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    Mute Chris Byrne
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:39 AM

    @Fi Wyse: you’re totally missing the point. Not a Wyse comment

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    Mute Damien Leahy
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 1:50 PM

    @Vonvonic: flights will depart with or without people on board you know this right?

    12
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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 10:48 AM

    @Joe Vlogs: if you can have a chat with my boss and ask her to let me have have a month and a half off work to travel then I will combine all of my flights into one how’s about that! I guess you know the answer to that one…..

    1
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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 10:50 AM

    @Chris Byrne: Is that the best you can come up with? A sad attempt to make light of my surname? At least hit me with some of the figures to make yourself look a little bit intelligent! Not very Wyse are you….

    1
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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 11:00 AM

    @Vonvonic: Stupid comment?? No just honest. I use my car as little as possible, I recycle like a maniac, I don’t treat myself to new clothes unless it’s necessary, reduce, reuse, recycle. I don’t have children, why shouldn’t I go on a holiday? There has to be some joy in life.

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    Mute John Dowdall
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:09 AM

    It’s obvious the so called government don’t consider it so why should anyone else consider it,,,, they should lead by example.

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    Mute Epgenetics29 Declan Christy
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:42 PM

    @John Dowdall: Definitely, put them in the cargo hold with the excess baggage…

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    Mute Tuesday Paddy
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:19 AM

    I’m afraid I don’t. But given that it’s three years since my last flight out of Ireland and I’m not likely to be going anywhere this year, I don’t feel overly guilty.

    121
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:14 AM

    The climate change thing is an absolute joke. To mitigate warming, we would have to undertake a type of paradigm change that people are both unaware of and totally unwilling to realise. That includes the greenest of the green by the way. (They’re the worst because they’re just leafy moneyed people who are involved in a charade to make themselves look sophisticated. The fashion industry is one of the worst culprits) We are completely screwed. There is no point in even trying.

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    Mute Richie Cosgrove
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:21 AM

    Anyone who doesn’t go on a flight because of climate, while China are opening a new coal-fired power plant every week, really ought to try any enjoy life a lot more.

    92
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    Mute Mr_Lover_Lover
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 10:01 AM

    The only people who regret it are those whove been guilt shamed by online virtue signalers who have their own agenda anyway. Don’t be weak hanging fruit, enjoy your holiday.

    120
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:31 AM

    @Mr_Lover_Lover: Hang on now . So they regret going on holiday because of guilt, but they go anyway because they’re not virtue signallers and also they are low hanging fruit who don’t understand the metaphor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen rationalisation at that level. Makes me think anything can be rationalised. Makes me think that there is no solution to the problem. I need to hear more from you.

    6
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    Mute Ciaran
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:20 AM

    Going to Australia to see the barrier reef before it’s gone.. laterz

    80
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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 10:51 AM

    @Ciaran: enjoy!!

    1
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    Mute Sean Collins
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:28 AM

    I like to see a bit of the world we live on, it’s a well earned break and plus I’ve been all over Ireland.

    58
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:25 AM

    @Sean Collins: Define “Well earned” in context.

    4
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    Mute Sean Collins
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:30 AM

    @Vonvonic: as in I earn the money to go and see and enjoy it, what else? Oh sorry, do you not want us to go?

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:35 AM

    @Sean Collins: I think you should do whatever you want. I’m a nihilist.There isn’t a hope in China that we’re going to solve this crises. People are delusional. Have at it horse. Just interested in what “well earned” means in the context of climate change. Purely intellectual. I couldn’t give a shite about the planet.

    12
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    Mute Keth Warsaw
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:06 AM

    CHINA

    33
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:24 AM

    @Keth Warsaw: Thanks Donald

    12
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    Mute John Johnes
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:48 PM

    @Keth Warsaw: this.

    3
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    Mute ciaran enright
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:31 AM

    Do I feel guilty using foreign public transport, supporting their local businesses. Why should I.

    28
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    Mute John Johnes
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:47 PM

    Considering climate impact when booking holidays LOOOOOOOL

    I am under the table.

    26
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 8:59 AM

    I goes over to Kerry for my holidays, and sometimes up to Clairw for the bit of fiddle. I ain’t one of those “because you deserve it” drones. So I don’t know..

    24
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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:23 AM

    @Vonvonic: I suspected you’re a fiddler right enough

    35
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:24 AM

    @lelookcoco: hillarious

    4
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    Mute Andy mc Laughlin
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:37 AM

    We can all give out about big companies polluting the world but the fact is a lot of them are producing products and services we all want and in some cases people believe are a basic human right. Watch this clip https://www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/videos/exposed-climate-change-hoax-dismantled-by-alan-jones/353616185294271/

    22
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    Mute Andy mc Laughlin
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:38 AM

    @Andy mc Laughlin: and by the way I’m not a climate change denier.

    9
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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 11:39 AM

    Cut the global population in half means we can all have twice the carbon footprint whilst maintaining the status quo in respect of damage to the environment. Cut population in half again, and we can have four times the carbon footprint whilst maintaining the status quo in terms of pollution and harmful emissions. The only answer to avoiding future wars, famine and disease is population curtailment. The conversation needs to change…

    20
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 12:30 PM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: There are enough resources to look after everyone on this planet, but for the hoarding by a tiny minority of superwealthy people.

    19
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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 1:35 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: you’re simply wrong. The ‘super wealthy’ earn their fortunes on the billions of consumers that they serve. It’s in the interest of big business that the numbers grow and grow and grow. It all culminates in war famine and disease when the planet can not sustain its population. History repeats itself.

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    Mute Fergus Quinlan
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 9:54 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: 220,000 new people every day!!! 229,000 acres of new land everyday…..plus all the food snd consumer goods, pets ……..

    1
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    Mute SPQH
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 12:57 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: We already have a population curtailment program in check, it’s called the 1st world’s 1 child policy. Look it up. You can experience here by such things as creche fees, school fees, hospital bills, combined income families and having a progressive career, etc.. Then there’s all the people that can’t actually conceive, that’s rising too. All these things are taxes on population growth, if don’t believe it have a look at our birth rate, it’s fallen by a third in a decade and it was already less than able to repopulate itself back then, even moreso now. So if the populations in the developed world are already dropping and are being topped up by migration, are you seriously telling me you would support population control of all the countries that have a growing population?

    2
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    Mute Matthew Donoghue
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 6:17 PM

    How about we address the other 90% of carbon emissions before we get on to the majority of people going on the odd holiday. These articles are designed to shift the blame for carbon emissions to the average person rather than the corporations. It’s lazy journalism.

    14
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    Mute keano
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 10:19 AM

    I would imagine COVID has had a big impact on unnecessary travel. Maybe like everything else it will slowly but surely return to the old norm.

    10
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    Mute Rui Firmino
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    Jun 2nd 2022, 10:12 PM

    No I don’t, I know climate change is the issue of our era and will most likely be our demise but I’m well aware a handful of corporations are responsible for 70 or 80 per cent of emissions ao I won’t be brainwashed into feeling personally responsible for whatever tiny fraction of an impact I have. Don’t drive or drink bottled water and was even a vegan for 15 years so my carbon footprint can’t be that much. Won’t deny myself a couple of flights a year, which are mostly to see my family back where I’m from, anyway. Not random sun holidays.

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 7:20 AM

    Where international package holiday travel is concerned another important question is:
    Do you consider cultural impact when booking holidays?

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    Mute Irishman7
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    Jun 4th 2022, 10:44 AM

    I do not consider it.

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    Mute Liz O'Neill
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 9:29 AM

    Nobody should be made to feel guilty over a modest annual holiday. However, it baffles me how many folk can justify several overseas trips a year when they’ve never seen their local park..
    Perhaps a type of Air Miles tax would be a sensible solution? The further you travel and the more often you travel within a certain time frame, the more you will need to pay for your fares. Work trips, obviously, would not be included unless somebody was clearly taking the piss… like attending conferences in far flung exotic locations that could be done on Zoom.

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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 3rd 2022, 10:54 AM

    @Liz O’Neill: Because people don’t want to visit their local park plain and simple! People should do what makes them happy!

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