Northern Ireland

Pardon call for Irish WWII soldiers

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Granting a pardon to Second World War soldiers from the Irish Republic who were branded deserters for joining the British Army would further improve cross-border relations in Ireland, the Stormont Assembly has been told.

The Dublin government is considering whether to officially exonerate the 5,000 troops from the Irish forces who left to fight against Nazi Germany.

With Ireland remaining neutral during the conflict, the soldiers who left were vilified by the state on their return.

The 4,983 so-called deserters were blacklisted through a parliamentary order - what became known as the starvation order - which saw them barred from certain jobs, refused military pensions and facing widespread discrimination.

The Republic's Justice and Defence Minister Alan Shatter is examining the issue in Dublin and is awaiting the advice of the Attorney General Maire Whelan.

Across the border in Belfast, Assembly members from all the main parties, including Sinn Fein, backed a call for a pardon.

Democratic Unionist Peter Weir, whose party proposed a motion supporting the pardon campaign, said he did not want to criticise the current Irish administration, but instead adopt a positive spirit of persuasion.

"I believe it is important to show solidarity with those involved in the campaign to secure not just a pardon for these soldiers, but to actively have their service honoured," he said.

The North Down MLA added: "There is the opportunity to now put right those historic wrongs and to ensure that the surviving veterans now are given the pardon they so rightly deserve.

"However, it goes beyond that to the families of all those who fought for freedom in the war and who still feel unable to talk openly about that service and sacrifice.

"Resolution of this issue would be another positive step forward in the improvement of relations between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

"As the number of direct veterans diminishes with each passing year, it is important that those who remain, and their families, would finally see this wrongdoing put right."

Sinn Fein members in the south have already signalled their party's intention to back the campaign.

South Belfast Sinn Fein MLA Alex Maskey explained the stance to the Assembly.

"Many citizens from this country, north and south, have joined British forces and indeed other forces to fight against fascism over many, many generations and of course many of those individuals unfortunately died in the field of battle, certainly made many, many sacrifices," he said.

"I think the continued stigma endured by many of these individuals that we are talking about, and their families who will still be alive today, I think it would be appropriate if that stigma could be removed from those individuals, from those families, from those people who did leave the Irish Defence Forces.

"We would support the idea and the concept that those people would have that stigma removed and that that matter could clearly be redressed.

"Given the lapse of time, I think it would be very difficult to actually pursue all of the individual cases as to what happened in each individual circumstance, but nevertheless we think therefore a pardon is probably the best means of moving forward on this issue.

"We believe that a pardon, a general pardon, for those who would be in this particular category would be an appropriate way to bring this matter to a close."

While Mr Shatter, who has been pressed on the issue in the Dail parliament in Dublin, has praised the idealism of those soldiers who went to fight the forces of fascism, his department has said the issue of a pardon was very complicated.

Officials are concerned a blanket pardon for alleged desertion between 1939 and 1945 would cause major issues for other soldiers court-martialled for going Awol.