The Irish government's military strategy before the outbreak of the second World War was to rely on the British army to come to the aid of this country in the event of a German invasion, according to one of the documents in the latest volume of archives on Irish foreign policy, published this week.
A letter marked "secret" from the secretary of the department of foreign affairs, Joseph Walsh, to the Irish ambassador to Italy, Michael MacWhite, in June, 1938, outlined Ireland's options.
"As you know we have the right to neutrality in any war in which England may be involved, but everybody here recognises that Germany would not hesitate for a moment to attack this country if by doing so she could hope to achieve her purpose of defeating England. So that the feeling of the country in the present war time atmosphere is somewhat pessimistic and we seem likely to be involved whether we wish it or not.
"We are, therefore, interested in providing ourselves with a system of defence proportionate to our means but adequate for the purpose of warding off an invasion for a sufficiently period to allow the British to come to our aid. That is a humiliating outlook after our long struggle with the British, but the rise of racialism and ideologies involving religious persecution in Europe has made the people think of immediately threatening disasters and has somewhat blunted their feelings of antagonism against the British."
Walsh went on to ask MacWhite if the Italian military achievements might have any lessons for Ireland. "Here we may not speak of rearming, because in truth we are hardly armed at all, and at the present moment we would be unable to repel even a serious landing of troops from the air."
Other documents in the volume show the government was concerned about the potential embarrassment of Ireland's leading Nazi, archaeologist Dr Adolf Mahr, holding a top public service job.
Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Volume V, 1937-1939, will be published on Wednesday.
