New History Lifts the "Veil of Neutrality" to Reveal Ireland's Hidden Role in the Second World War

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Oct 1, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Military historian Dr Gerard Browne today announced the release of ÉIRE In World War Two, a landmark historical work that challenges the long-held narrative of Irish neutrality during the Second World War and restores recognition to the thousands of Irish men and women who served the Allied cause.

Ireland's role in the war has long been overshadowed by the public policy of "The Emergency." Behind it, the book argues, lay a far more complex and consequential story -- one of intelligence sharing, weather reporting, and military cooperation, from the allied use of the Donegal Corridor and the Foynes flying-boat base to the weather reading taken at Blacksod, County Mayo, that helped determine the timing of the D-Day landings. Though conscription did not apply in Ireland, up to 160,000 Irish citizens enlisted in the British forces, winning more than 800 awards including eight Victoria Crosses, while as many as 200,000 more crossed the Irish Sea to work in wartime Britain.

"Had Éire not been neutral, this invisible army would never have been allowed to leave the island to help Britain in her hour of need, and the story of the thousands who died, named in this book, would have been completely different," said Browne. "That's what four years and 24,000 pages of research taught me: neutrality didn't hold Ireland back from the war. In many ways it was the very thing that let so many of us take part in it."

The book is available in paperback, hardcover, and eBook formats from amazon. Grounded in declassified Irish and British archives and primary documents, it presents an account of diplomacy, sacrifice, secrecy, and survival -- and includes a researched list of the men and women from Éire who died in Allied service, a record that remained largely unacknowledged for decades. The volume brings together contributions from Eddie Lough, John Crotty, Jim O'Neill, Donard de Cogan, and others, with an introduction by Major General (Retired) Adrian " Murchú, a former member of Irish military intelligence (G2).

Dr Gerard Browne is a dental graduate of University College Cork who practised for over 36 years in County Clare before retiring as a dental surgeon seven years ago to pursue military history virtually full-time. He has published books and written extensively for the Clare Library on Clare men and women in the First World War, the Second World War, and the Revolutionary Years of 1916-1921, and has given numerous talks on these subjects. Over the past four years he has gathered more than 24,000 pages of information and photographs on the thousands of people from Éire who died in the Second World War, all named in Éire in WW2 - The True Story.

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https://gerbrowne.com/

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Kingsford Publishing

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https://kingsfordpublishing.com/