Ireland 'betrayed' its Constitution in failing to protect Jews

Ireland betrayed its own Constitution in failing to protect Jews during the second World War, the Minister for Justice has told guests at the State's first official Holocaust commemoration.

Mr McDowell said the 1937 Constitution was "remarkable in its time" for giving explicit recognition and guarantees to Ireland's Jewish community.

But he added that although elected governments had publicly upheld the rights of those facing persecution, and while many Irish people stood bravely against the persecutors at home and abroad, "it remains the case that our State and our society in many ways failed that constitutional recognition".

Addressing guests at the memorial in Dublin's City Hall last evening, the Minister said the State failed in its obligations "whether by tolerating social discrimination, failing to heed the message of the persecuted, failing to offer refuge to those who sought it, or failing to confront those who openly or covertly offered justification for the prejudice and race hatred which led to the Shoah".

History had highlighted many such failings, Mr McDowell added: "And I think it appropriate today, holding the office that I do, to formally acknowledge the wrongs that were covertly done, by act and omission, by some who exercised the executive power in our society in breach of the spirit of the Constitution."

Last night's ceremony arose from Ireland's signing of the Stockholm Declaration in January 2000, under which 44 countries agreed to commemorate the Holocaust annually on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

However, the inaugural event was organised by a cross-community group of private individuals, a spokeswoman for which expressed the hope that the Government would take over responsibility for the commemoration in future years.

Along with Jews, the memorial marked the fate of all victims of the Nazis, including people with disabilities, political and ethnic minorities and homosexuals.

Hosting the ceremony, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Dermot Lacey, said it was "long past time" for Irish society to remember the Holocaust formally, and he hoped it would become an annual fixture.

Other speakers included the Minister of State for Europe, Mr Dick Roche, and Senator David Norris.

Among the special guests were Ms Suzi Diamond and her brother Mr Terry Samuels, child survivors of Auschwitz, who were later adopted in Ireland. Orphaned when their mother died of TB a month after the camp's liberation, the children were among a small group brought to Ireland by Dr Bob Collis, a paediatrician from the Rotunda Hospital who worked with the British Red Cross.

Other survivors at the event included Ms Rosel Siev, who came to Ireland as an adult and whose sister was saved from death in the camps when she became a member of "Schindler's List".

Cardinal Connell and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev John Neill, were among those who attended.

The Chief Rabbi of Ireland, the Very Rev Dr Yaakov Pearlman, recited a prayer for the repose of the souls of the departed.