FROM THE ARCHIVES:James Dillon's overt support for the Allies in the second World War left him an isolated figure in the Dáil during the Emergency. In a debate on foreign affairs in 1943 he repeated his views.
MR. DILLON said he dissented from that decision [neutrality], which he believed wrong. “I think that for all time it will be held against us as a mistake.”
He protested against the implication that the Irish people saw no distinction between the United States and Nazi Germany. The bulk of the people recognised in the US a community they were proud to claim as friends, a people on whom they were never ashamed to lean in the past.
Mr. Dillon said that when Mr. de Valera was leaving America 25 years ago he expressed the gratitude of the Irish people to the people of the United States, and said that if ever the occasion arose the Americans could turn to Ireland for help.
On being ruled out of order, Mr. Dillon continued: “Parachutists were dropped here. Persons were sent here, on their own admission, by the German Army to carry on sabotage work and drop bombs on our territory.
“Although the Nazis sank our ships and machine-gunned our seamen we contented ourselves with minor diplomatic protests. When they came in great force on two occasions to blitz Belfast we were content with expressing our sympathy and protesting, the assumption being that, preferable to make ourselves belligerent, we had no reason to complain when the Germans came and bombed us.
“The United States, in the course of the war, landed troops in Northern Ireland. So far as international usage goes the separation of Northern Ireland from Ireland is internationally recognised. The landing of the troops was made the occasion of a vigorous and strong protest, not through diplomatic channels, but addressed to the President and the world by the Taoiseach . He did not complain so bitterly on the occasions when the Axis attacked the country and bombed the city.”
Mr. De Valera – Protests were made. Mr. Dillon – Through diplomatic channels in fact only after considerable effort. When troops were landed in Northern Ireland a manifesto was issued.
Mr. De Valera – Nobody minds the deputy expressing his views, but when he goes out of his way to damage the country it is hard to understand it.
Mr. Dillon – That is the kind of mischievous statement the Taoiseach makes about anyone unfortunate to differ with him.
Some deputies interrupted Mr. Dillon to say – “You speak for yourself here,” but, continuing, he spoke of Portugal’s recent decision to assist Britain to combat U-boats. He said: “Portugal will be remembered for it, and will be entitled to say after the war that she knew where her sympathies lay and was not afraid to tell the world.”
Mr. De Valera – Why does the deputy try to give a one-sided, disparaging statement of the situation as regards the country?
Mr. Dillon – I am trying to present the situation as it appears to others outside the country.
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