I'm sorry SOSL, I don't agree. I am of mixed English Irish heritage and therefore I feel I have a foot in both camps. All of my life I feel that the United Kingdom has has a veritable hail of stones cast at it from the other side of the Irish Sea, some justified, some not. I think there is a general sense in this country now that historically the Irish people were badly treated by the British government, both before and after the Union, but those historical wrongs did not justify the De Valera government from treating its own citizens in the way that it did.
We are now in a period when relations between our two countries have probably never been better, and I celebrate that fact. All the more reason for the Irish government to act as it has done to overturn the injustice done to its citizens for fighting alongside "the Brits". All I'm saying is when you consider the ages of those survivors who were so shabbily treated by past Irish adminstrations, it's a pity the present one didnt get on with it once the decision was taken.
Still, better late than never, so two cheers for the Dail!