In a statement indicating the Irish government's willingness to pardon the Irish "deserters", Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter made the following remarks about Irish neutrality before and during WW2, with particular reference to its failure to assist Jews who were seeking refuge from Nazi Germany.
“In the 1930s practically all visa requests from German Jews were refused by the Irish authorities.
“This position was maintained from 1939 to 1945 and we should no longer be in denial that, in the context of the Holocaust, Irish neutrality was a principle of moral bankruptcy.(my italics)
“This moral bankruptcy was compounded by the then Irish government who, after the war, only allowed an indefensibly small number who survived the concentration camps to settle permanently in Ireland and also by the visit of President de Valera to then German ambassador Edouard Hempel in 1945 to express his condolences on the death of Hitler.
Referring to the treatment of those considered as deserters from the Irish Defence Forces, he said:
"It is untenable that we commemorate those who died (a reference to Holocaust Memorial Day) whilst continuing to ignore the manner in which our State treated the living in the period immediately after World War II, who returned to our state having fought for freedom and democracy".