Foreign seamen who died for us deserve memorial

ON SUNDAY, July 14, the National Day of Commemoration Ceremony is scheduled to be held in Collins Barracks, Dublin 7, at 10.30am.

It is an appropriate way to commemorate Irishmen and Irish women who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations.

However, official Ireland does not commemorate the vital contribution made by foreign nationals who lost their lives as a result of belligerent action while serving onboard neutral Irishflagged vessels during the emergency period 1939-46. Their sacrifice does not even merit a mention during the annual commemoration.

To restate: Between September 3, 1939, and March 31, 1946, approximately 4,000 seafarers served on neutral Irish merchant ships and fishing trawlers. They came from the UK, USA, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Russia.

Of the 149 seafarers lost on Irish vessels sunk as a result of belligerent action, 18 were British, one was Norwegian, one Latvian and one Argentine – the rest were Irish nationals.

All are listed on the Irish National Merchant Seamen’s Memorial at City Quay Dublin.

At the close of the war, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera said: “To the men of our mercantile marine who faced all the perils of the ocean to bring us essential supplies, the nation is profoundly grateful.”

High praise indeed from Dev, and yet despite representations highlighting the issue, the Irish Government to date cannot find a way to include in remembrance the sacrifice of our British, Argentine, Norwegian and Latvian relatives lost on Irish ships during the emergency. Apparently the contribution of foreign-born merchant seamen towards supporting Irish neutrality during WWII has been forgotten by the Irish State. Shameful.