Editorial: There was no reason for Ireland to be at the D-Day anniversary events in France

​Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein has been criticised for not attending the D-Day 80th in France.

​Some unionists have also criticised the Irish government for not being present.

But was it asked? And should the Republic of Ireland even be asked?

Ireland chose not to join the allies during the Second World War. In one respect this was an understandable decision in that it would have been hard to fight alongside Britain so soon after independence. But in the 79 years since the end of the war a narrative has arisen in which Ireland was a friendly neutral.

In some respects perhaps it was, but it was nonetheless neutral against the most menacing tyranny the world has seen, one that came within a whisker of taking full Nazi control of Europe.

Whatever the reasons, sitting that out is a source of embarrassment. But, worse, the then Taoiseach Eamon de Valera showed how rabidly anglophobic he was by paying tribute to Hitler’s emissary in Dublin on the death of the German dictator.

Germany has begun to be invited to D-Day events and while it is, as a country, entirely culpable for the war in a way that Ireland is not at all culpable, it did repudiate its past immediately after the conflict, and has done so determinedly ever since.

Ireland has not shown regret for its neutrality, and has generally ducked the issue. Nor has the IRA and its heirs shown remorse for working in tandem with Nazis to undermine the British.

RTE yesterday prominently reported the embarrassment of Rishi Sunak for his foolishness of returning from D-Day early. The Irish national broadcaster might want to examine its own country’s embarrassment over the fight against Hitler, rather than breathlessly reporting another British mishap.

Incidentally, those southern Irish soldiers who left Ireland to fight the Nazis should be honoured guests at any D-Day ceremony.