Troops mobilised for the Emergency

FROM September 1939 until the end of the war in the Pacific in 1945, most of the world was at war. While the majority of countries in Europe were being ravaged, here in Ireland we had an Emergency. The war began on September 1 when Germany invaded Poland, quickly followed by Britain and France declaring war on Germany.

On Saturday, September 2, the Dáil declared a state of emergency and the Government announced this country would adopt a policy of neutrality. Later that same day, the Dáil passed the Emergency Powers Act. That act lasted for the duration of the war and lapsed in September 1946. Our various governments, however, never got around to declaring the Emergency over until 30 years later in 1976.
Many of the people of the country had other things on their minds. On Sunday, September 3, Jack Lynch and Jimmy Walsh were more important than Adolf Hitler as they led Cork and Kilkenny in their first All-Ireland hurling final clash since the three-game saga in 1931. While the Germans headed for Poland, the Liam McCarthy Cup headed for Kilkenny as they won the Thunder and Lightening Final by one point.
The Emergency Powers Act included the appointment of Sean Lemass as minister for supplies and the introduction of rationing. Its internment clause was used widely against the IRA, which rebounded against De Valera in the 1948 election. Censorship of the press and mail became a fact of life. This was meant to prevent the publication of anything that might undermine the neutrality of the state. It was also used to prevent the publication of any information about Irish men and women who were serving with the Allied Forces. There was even an attempt to prevent Irish people travelling to Britain to work in factories or join their forces. The ineffectiveness of that section was shown by the fact that over 70,000 Irish people fought in the British Army alone during the Second World War.
Everybody realised we could not defend the country from invasion by either side in the war, the Allies or the Axis and at different stages both scenarios were a distinct possibility. The Allies needed to defend the supply convoys on the Atlantic and they felt the loss of the Treaty Ports, which had been returned to this country in the 1930s. Germany briefly considered Ireland as a stepping stone to an invasion of Britain. Nevertheless, we needed an army of reasonable strength.
At the outbreak of the war, army numbers were less than 20,000. Within two years this was doubled and by the end of the war there were also over 100,000 in the Local Defence Force (LDF). Two army divisions were formed, one based in Cork and the other in the ancestral home of the Earls of Kildare – Carton House in Maynooth. There were two separate brigades, one based in the Curragh and the other at Rineanna.
That huge increase in numbers was facilitated by the passing of the Defence Forces Bill, which introduced mobilisation. Reportedly, the first recruit under the terms of the bill was a soldier named Brendan Aherne. He enlisted the day the bill was passed by the Dáil and Seanad on June 7, 1940 – 72 years ago this week.