Letter from Frederick H. Boland to Thomas J. Kiernan (Canberra)

We have received your minute P/4 of the 5th December¹ enclosing extracts from the Australian Senate and House of Representatives debates concerning the alleged exclusion from the Twenty-Six Counties of Irishmen who served in the British forces during the war. No doubt you have informed the Minister for Immigration that this mischievous allegation is entirely without foundation. It is a pity you were not consulted before the reply to the question was made. In a similar situation here we should most certainly consult the Australian High Commissioner.

As you are aware, no penal action of any kind was taken against Irishmen for serving in the British forces. Under an Emergency Powers Order made in August 1945,² and which has since been revoked, a number of these men who had deserted from the Irish Defence Forces were subject to certain penalties which, needless to say, did not involve exclusion from the country, were in fact less severe than the normal statutory penalties for desertion. Under the Order deserters were disqualified for seven years from holding office in any post remunerated out of public funds. It was provided, in addition, that dismissal from the Army by virtue of the Order would not operate as a discharge for purposes of Unemployment Insurance.

You will remember that when you were in Rome we wrote to you about the distorted messages sent out by British press agencies regarding the Dáil debates on this question.³