1944 - 1945 AD
1944 January: In
Eire
/ Ireland the
Irish Labour Party split into
two groups.
February 21st:
David Gray
the American Ambassador
in Ireland, on behalf of the
American Government,
(and it was agreed to by the
British Imperial
Government),
wanted the
German
and Japanese
representatives in
Ireland to
be sent home, and Richard Mulcahy
who was now the
leader of Fine Gael
Party until
1959 wanted to know if they
refused would there be an Invasion or not as stated by
Roosevelt in
February 1942.
February 29th:
David Gray
the American Ambassador
bought an assurance from the
American
President that there would be no Invasion.
March:
Eamonn de Valera
replied to the American
request to recall the German
and Japanese
representatives
by stating the
Irish Government
had done it's best to stay neutral and every effort was made to prevent
espionage and that the
Irish Government
would continue to protect the neutrality of the
Irish State
and the democratic way
of life of the
Irish people.
This measure was to be continued not by fear of any action to be taken against
Ireland,
but by the good will
and fundamental friendship existing between
America and the people of
Ireland.
The information given to
David Gray
was released for
publication, which created bad publicity for the
Irish Government
and also for
David Gray,
but the people
of Ireland
rallied around
Eammon de Valera. Winston Churchill
the British Imperial prime ,inister once again began to isolate
Ireland
from all trade between
Ireland
and Britain
even down
to their coal supplies.
May 9th: The Fianna Fail
Party was defeated on a Transport
Bill in the Dail Eireann, so
Eammon de Valera
resigned
his Government and called a new election were
the Fianna
Fail Party won
76 seats, which then gave them
a 14 seat
majority.
June 10th:
Frank Ryan
the socialist
Republic Congress Party
leader and previous editor of
"An Phoblacht," who was also stone deaf, died
of pleurisy and pneumonia in
Germany
and was buried there at
Dresden.
July:
John O Reilly
/ Pat O Brien
escaped from
Arbour Hill Prison in a desperate attempt to dig up the money that he had buried when
he first landed in
Ireland prior to
his capture, but he was soon recaptured. Eamonn de Valera's
Fianna Fail
Government
was now forced to adopt very harsh measures against the
remaining members of the anti - Treaty
IRA.
August 15th:
The
Irish Government empowered the
Finance Minister
to require all
Irish citizens who owed any money to people in
Germany to pay it into the
Irish Government
to compensate for
any War damage they were to
cause in
Ireland.
November:
The Allies demanded that
Ireland hand over the German
agents detained in
Ireland,
which upset the people in
Ireland
as it was the policy of the
Irish Government to remain
neutral and eventually deport them to their
own country of origin.
1945
Sean O Kelly
was elected the
2nd President of Eire
/
Ireland and
Sean Lemass became the
Tanaiste (Treasurer)
until
1948 while
Frank Aiken was the
Minister of Finance
until then
also.
William T. Cosgrave,
the first
Taoiseach (leader)
of the Irish Free State,
died.
March:
The German agents
who were interred in Erie were informed that they would be sent back to
Germany after the
War was over.
April 30th:
Adolph Hitler,
was
dead.
May 3rd:
Eamonn de Valera
as the Prime Minister
of
Eire
/ Ireland called on
Eduard Hempel the
German Ambassador and expressed his condolences on the death of the
German Head of State
who had
committed suicide, which upset many throughout the
World.
He did this as he had considered
Eduard Hemple,
the German Ambassador
in Ireland,
had
conducted himself in a proper manner throughout the
War Period and he personally was entitled to
the respect he deserved.
May 8th:
Eduard Hempel
informed
Eamonn de Valera
that the
German 3rd Reich
was
ended and
handed over the German Embassy
to the
Irish Government.
May 10th:
The
Irish Government then
handed over the
German Embassy
to the
American Ambassador.
May 13th:
Winston Churchill was now
the British Conservative Prime Minister and in his
Victory speech
attacked
Eamonn de Valera's
Fianna Fail Government for
not collaborating
with Great Britain
during the
War
and stated he had shown great restraint by not attacking
Ireland
many times.
May 17th:
Eamonn de Valera
replied to
Winston Churchill's
comments,
by stating that it seemed that
Britain's necessity would become a
moral code and the rights of other peoples would not count,
and by resisting his
temptation to force
Ireland by
Invasion in this instance Winston
Churchill has revisited previous history. This added a
new chapter to the
already bloodstained record of relations between
England and
Ireland,
which
must advance the
cause of international morality,
and he was further hoping that he was not seeking an excuse to continue the
injustices and mutilation of Ireland.
June: Magan, Conway and Sean Mac Cool reorganized the IRA at Bodenstown.
June - August: 200 German Service personnel including the Naval ratings rescued from the battle in the Bay of Biscay in 1943 and flyers who had crashed or were forced down in Ireland who were held in the Curragh Camp were returned to Germany.
July 17th:
Irish Republican
rumblings and the feeling that
Eammon de Valera had given
Ireland
a close
subtle
relationship with Britain
caused
James Dillon
in the
Dail Eireann
/
Irish Parliament to put it to him whether
Ireland
was a
Republic
or not,
and he basically replied that
Ireland
was
a Republic
under
the wording of the dictionary. Eamonn de Valera
now advised
Sir
John Maffey
the
British Government representative
that he
intended to repeal the
External
Relations Act, which authorised the
British King to agree, on advise
from the Irish Government,
to
appoint diplomats. This association was causing too much confusion in
Irish
politics, but if the
British Imperial Government
could begin
to
revive the
Council of Ireland concept as provided in the Government
of Ireland Act 1920 he would desist. He said he would leave it to him to
put it to the British Imperial Government
and awaited his reply but in the meantime he had a
Bill prepared for
Repeal of the External Relations Act.
October:
The IRA
was reaffirmed
and IRA prisoners
were released from internment in
Eire.
Due
to it's neutrality
Ireland
was not entitled
to Marshall Aid.