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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2015
On 19 December 1946, the Irish President, Seán T. O'Kelly, signed the Unemployment Insurance Act into law. This innocuous-sounding piece of legislation has received very little attention from historians, but was of great importance to one section of post-war Irish society. Under its terms, Dublin and London entered into a special scheme whereby Irish men and women who had served with the British forces during the Second World War were allowed to claim British unemployment insurance payments, while still resident in the twenty-six counties of independent Ireland. Coming at a time of unemployment and economic slump in Ireland, this was of crucial importance to many exservicemen. This article will explore the background, negotiation and implementation of the unemployment insurance agreement, and will speculate on the reasons why the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, agreed to it. It will also examine the British side of the scheme and explore London's motives, both concrete and notional.
1 For the purpose of this article, the term ‘Irish ex-servicemen’ will refer to Irish men and women who served in the British armed forces during the Second World War.
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6 ‘Assistance being offered to Irish citizens to enlist in the British Army’, 7 May 1941 (ibid., DT S6091A).
7 Walshe to Lemass, 17 Feb. 1943 (N.A.I., DT TAOIS S13065 A).
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25 Dulanty to Walshe, 5 July 1945 (ibid.).
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34 ‘Unemployment insurance: special arrangements for ex-servicemen and industrial workers from Eire’, joint memo to the cabinet by Addison and Griffiths, 13 Mar. 1946 (T.N.A., CAB 129/8).
35 Cabinet discussions, 21 Mar.1946 (T.N.A., CAB 195/4).
36 Dulanty to Walshe, 26 Mar. 1946 (N.A.I., DFA 328/11A).
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40 Memo to the cabinet from Addison, 10 May 1946 (N.A.I., DFA 328/11A).
41 Dulanty to Walshe, 10 May 1946 (ibid.).
42 Lemass to Walshe, 16 June 1946 (N.A.I., DFA 328/11A).
43 Memo from Lemass to cabinet, 26 June 1946 (N.A.I., DT TAOIS S 13065B).
44 Ibid.
45 Report of Dulanty’s visit, 26 June 1946 (T.N.A., PIN 7/286).
46 ‘Resettlement of ex-service personnel in Eire’, letter from Addison to Dulanty, 4 July 1946 (T.N.A., DO 35/1230, file WX 132/46).
47 ‘Unemployment Insurance Eire Volunteers Bill’, ‘Note on the negotiations with officials of the Eire Government on the payment of unemployment benefit in Eire to discharged ex-servicemen 17–18 July, 1946’ (T.N.A., LAB 9/149).
48 Hansard 5 (Commons), cdxxvii, 861 (15 Oct. 1946).
49 Draft Unemployment Insurance Agreement between London and Dublin, 18 July 1946 (T.N.A., CAB 129/12).
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52 Cabinet conclusions, 7 Aug. 1946 (T.N.A., CAB 128/6).
53 ‘Instructions to legal division’, 14 Oct. 1946 (T.N.A., PIN 7/287).
54 Hansard 5 (Commons), cdxxvii, 864 (15 Oct. 1946).
55 Dáil Éireann deb,, ciii, 1688 (28 Nov.1946).
56 Dáil Éireann deb,, ciii, 1681 (28 Nov. 1946).
57 ‘Unemployment Insurance Eire Volunteers Bill’, ‘Note on the negotiations with officials of the Eire Government on the payment of unemployment benefit in Eire to discharged ex-servicemen 17–18 July, 1946’ (T.N.A., LAB 9/149).
58 'Unemployment Insurance Act 1946' (N.A.I., PRES /1/P2932).
59 Hansard 5 (Lords), cxlviii, 1047 (18 June 1947).
60 Hansard 5 (Lords), clii, 936 (26 Nov.1947).
61 Hansard 5 (Lords), clv, 462 (28 Apr. 1948).
62 ‘Instructions to Legal Division’, ‘Details of payments of Special Benefit under the Unemployment Insurance (Eire Volunteers) Act, 1946’, n.d. (T.N.A., PIN 7/287).
63 ‘Memo on the payment of Special Benefit in Eire Unemployment Insurance (Eire Volunteers) Act, 1946’, 5 Apr. 1949, in ‘Payment made under NI Act 1946 for continuance of payment of benefit to Eire Volunteers after 5–7–8’ (T.N.A., PIN 7/347).
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66 ‘The Irish Question in 1945’, memo presented to the Cabinet by Sir John Maffey, 21 Aug. 1945 (T.N.A., CAB 129/2).
67 ‘Relations with Eire’, memo presented to the Cabinet by Christopher Addison, 7 Sept. 1945 (T.N.A., CAB 129/2).
68 Cabinet conclusions, 21 Mar. 1946 (T.N.A., CAB 128/5).
69 ‘The Irish Question in 1945’, memo presented to the Cabinet by Sir John Maffey, 21 Aug. 1945 (T.N.A., CAB 129/2).
70 ‘Relations with Eire’, memo presented to the Cabinet by Christopher Addison, 7 Sept. 1945 (T.N.A., CAB 129/2).
71 ‘Unemployment insurance: special arrangements for ex-servicemen and industrial workers from Eire’, 13 Mar.1946 (T.N.A., CAB 129/8).
72 Girvin, , The Emergency, p. 261.Google Scholar
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74 Leach, Daniel Fugitive Ireland: European minority nationalists and Irish political asylum, 1937–2008 (Dublin, 2009), p. 220.Google Scholar
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77 Patterson, Ireland since 1939: the persistence of conflict (London, 2007), p. 83.Google Scholar
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79 Ibid.
