Sir,– Michael Anderson praises Éamon de Valera's decision to keep Ireland neutral during the second World War (May 20th). I fail to see how there can be any justification for Ireland remaining neutral while a German-led war machine was systematically sending millions of innocent civilians to their deaths. What if the Axis powers had won the war? Would Ireland's neutrality have guaranteed its safety? I doubt it. An island as fertile as ours would have been a tempting acquisition.
We know from details in Operation Green that Hitler flirted with the idea of invading Ireland. This was to take place alongside Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of Britain that never materialised. We also know that de Valera’s government met their British counterparts to devise a joint contingency plan to counter such an event. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BELLEW,
Paughanstown,
Dunleer,
Co Louth.