Sir, – I am more than surprised at Tom Cooper (June 30th) misrepresenting the objectives of our campaign. One never at any stage suggested or implied that the actions of these deserters was legitimate. Military law is an essential part of any military force and the offence of desertion during the Emergency should have been processed at the time by the Defence Forces pursuant to a properly constituted military tribunal.
Mr Cooper refers to the Irish Constitution on many occasions to substantiate his position. Might I remind him that Defence Force personnel have a constitutional right to defend themselves in an Irish court and that right was abrogated for political expediency by the De Valera government? It seems that those Irish who collaborated with the Nazi regime during second World War received better treatment post-war than these deserters who fought against fascism. The British government granted pardons to the Shot at Dawn in 2006. The German and Austrian governments introduced legislation to rehabilitate the memory of their deserters in 2009. In this new era of Anglo- Irish relationships surely the Irish Government can do the same. – Yours, etc,