Hundreds of people who lost medals awarded to relatives who fought in the Easter Rising and War of Independence are now to be given certificates to prove their relation's role in the fighting.
Up to now, families were brusquely refused by the Department of Defence when they sought a replacement for medals that had been lost, stolen, or gone missing over the years.
The department did, however, replace medals on a once-only basis if a veteran applied for a copy - though few, if any, veterans are now left to do so. "This policy was adopted in the interest of preserving the intrinsic value of these medals and to strictly limit the number of medals issued," Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said yesterday.
The value of Easter Rising/War of Independence memorabilia has risen sharply this year because of the 90th anniversary of the 1916 rebellion, as shown when the medal awarded posthumously to one of the Proclamation's signatories, Thomas Clarke, was sold in April for €105,000.
Hundreds of applications for copies of medals have been made, and officials would now write to each of them to offer a certificate, Mr O'Dea said.
Each immediate relative of a veteran will be entitled to a certificate in English or Irish: "Multiple copies will be given," the Minister said.
"I fully understand the feelings and frustrations of family members of veterans when requests for replacement medals are refused. The veterans sacrificed so much to build the foundations of this State and allow this country gain its freedom," he added.
Con Clarke, whose father Eugene was awarded a medal marking service between 1917 and 1921, said he had only realised a year ago that the medal had gone missing from his Raheny, Dublin home. His father, who died in 1958, never applied for a veteran's pension: "He always believed that what they did, they did for Ireland and not for pay," Mr Clarke said yesterday.
"He was amused by the thousands who received medals and pensions afterwards, saying that he always believed that there had not been more than 60 to a 100 in the GPO," he went on.
Two thousand medals were awarded to veterans of the Rising, while 15,000 were honoured for active fighting during the War of Independence.
More than 50,000 medals were minted for those who aided IRA units in the War of Independence, such as Cumann na mBan. In 1966, 1916 veterans who were still alive at the time, were honoured with a survivor's medal, while War of Independence veterans still alive for the 50th anniversary in 1971 were similarly honoured.
