For whatever reason, the elected leader of Ireland wanted the country to be neutral, and in order to be taken seriously by Germany, they had to put some penalties into this. One could make an argument (not necessarily my argument) that if they “pardoned” these people now, how could the Irish government be taken seriously as neutral in any future war. Again, these are not necessarily my opinions so don’t beat me up.
Keep in mind that US (one, I think) and British soldiers were actually kept “prisoners” in an IRISH(!) POW camp during the war, some from planes that crashed or made emergency landings in Ireland. I don’t think they were treated badly, and the POW camp was pretty posh by “prison” standards. Although there was virtually no security, I think both governments basically assigned these soldiers there and they were told not to make any attempt to escape!
I am a WWII buff, and I’ve never heard this story about the Irish POW camps. Thank you for the information.
Neutrality was the right choice for Eire. England got bombed to bits. So did Ulster, which was and remains part of Britain. But Eire sat it out with nary a scratch. They just broke out the popcorn and watched the show. After 800 years of English oppression, it must have been gratifying indeed.