The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has expressed support for the Irish "Shot at Dawn Campaign". In Britain it has been working to secure pardons for 306 soldiers who it is claimed were unjustifiably executed after field courts-martial during the first World War. Up to 26 of those soldiers are believed to have been born in Ireland.
In a statement yesterday Mr Cowen said: "The offences with which each Irishman was charged, convicted and summarily executed were repealed by the British authorities in 1930, following sustained lobbying by ex-servicemen disillusioned by the military."
He continued: "That itself indicated serious public concern at the time about the credibility of the convictions and sentences passed by the British military system of justice in the awful conditions prevailing on and near the battlefields.
"Moreover, it reflected serious concerns that the regularity and severity of disciplinary action for offences such as desertion, especially in the Irish Divisions, was envisaged by military commanders of the era as a means of deterrence to others rather than an expression of justice.
"In addition, the failure to give consideration to ameliorating medical conditions known at the time undermine, in my view, those convictions. I have instructed my officials to begin discussions with their British counterparts to re-establish the good names of these Irishmen."
Mr Cowen said great progress had been made in embracing "all of our rich and varied heritage", including Irishmen who joined the British army prior to independence thinking they were fighting for small nations.
