From Stanley McMaster, MP
Sir: A considerable ignorance of the facts is displayed by Mr Tim Pat Coogan (Letters, December 4) in his reference to Irishmen who served in World War II. He makes the statement that " Irish nationals volunteered in vast numbers for the British armed services " and COmpares them with "such few Northern Ireland volunteers as there were."
Answers to two questions in the British House of Commons give rather more reliable figures. On March 26, 1946 the Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs said that 43,249 men and women from Eire joined the British services during the war. On April 1,
1946 the Under-Secretaryof State for War said the figures for Northern Ireland were 37,262. Mr Coo
gan will be well aware that the Northern Ireland population is in the region of one half of the RePublic's.
It might also be mentioned that Belfast suffered 700 civilian deaths in a German air raid in April 1941, a form of onslaught which the Republic escaped, since its neutrality was emphasised by its refusal to open its ports to hard pressed British ships on the Atlantic run.
Undoubtedly many Irishmen Working in Britain during the war served in the forces either as conscripts or volunteers but this applied whether they came from the North or the South.
Stanley McMaster
House of Commons, London SW1
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