Is Irelands neutrality stance in WW2 unfairly criticized? (see Mod note 217)

This is just straight up fantasy.

Dev's friend Hempel, by the way, is rumoured to have tipped off the Germans about Arnhem and Dieppe.

Your only proof of this is a 15 year old post on Boards. Meanwhile the Dieppe is widely regarded as a failure by British Command and Churchill himself. How would Hempel even obtain details of a British operation whilst stationed in Dublin?

"that is why many Canadians detested Dev for some decades after the war."

Any proof for this claim that the Canadians blamed Dev for this?

"Of course Dev knew Hempel a long time : Dr Hempel is the same man photographed giving the full Nazi salute in his box at the 1938 Royal Dublin Horse in the presence of taoiseach Éamon de Valera and president Douglas Hyde."

Dr. Hempel was one of many diplomats pressured into joining the Nazi party in 1938 following the formation of the Dienstelle Ribbentrop.

At first reluctant, Hempel agrees to comment to The Irish Times, “for the record, because I’m only going to do this once”. She describes her father as “a good man with no love for that regime. The man had no Nazi tendencies. He loved his country.”

Pausing to reflect, she continues: “In hindsight, I believe that the reason De Valera called to the house was out of friendship. He and my father were personal friends: it wasn’t simply a case of prime minister and diplomat. There was more than that. He visited because he knew my father, and the condolences were to my father because his position [as envoy to Ireland] was finished.”
In her final comment on the subject she says: “Hitler’s death didn’t mean a damn thing to my father; he was happy about it – like we are happy about Osama bin Laden.”

If Hempel was a Nazi leaking secret plans on Dieppe and Arnhem how did the British deal with him after the war?

Hempel returned to Germany in 1949 and was denazified in Stade in the British occupation zone as "Category V – exonerated", so faced no sanctions.

In Fact he actually rejoined the Foreign Service in 1950.

It's been repeatedly implied that WW2 was initiated by Britain as land grab of Europe, Norway, Singapore, Dresden and invading Ireland.

No it has not been 'repeatedly' implied, Your paranoia and offence taking on behalf of Britain is getting the better of you.

Everyone (or most anyway) understands that the nuance here is that we are 'militarily neutral' not politically neutral'.
Attempts were made to make us not militarily neutral and in respect of WW2, Dev resisted that much to the continued chagrin of some while everyone else has long since moved on.

Honourable and justified? If anyone thought any regime was honorourable and justified, it was Dev and his side kick Aiken in their thoughts of the Nazi regime. The Americans had ears and as far back as 1941 the President interrupted Aiken to say that he believed in being perfectly frank. He said 'you are reported as having said that the Irish had nothing to fear from a German victory'. That is consistent with Dev even offering condolences on the death of Hitler 4 years later, when the world knew about Hitlers death camps, and news reels had been shown worldwide etc.

No wonder President Roosevelt was so annoyed at Ireland he threw knives and cutlery in the air when Dev's rep Aiken met him in America in 1941, although Roosevelt had put off the meeting for 2 weeks. He knew Ireland's attitude was a bad one. And it did end up costing un-necessary Allied lives.

Lets have a look at that claim,

Gray then suggested that Roosevelt should demand the expulsion of the Axis diplomats on the grounds that they were a threat to Allied plans for the D-Day landing.

The request was purely a political ploy without any security basis, so the OSS felt this was none of its business. The British liked the idea, and a formal note from Roosevelt was read to de Valera by Gray on February 21, 1944.

What happened next?

The story was leaked to the American press and a smear campaign was launched against de Valera in America, where the episode made front page news throughout the country during the week leading up to St Patrick's Day. Administration officials contended that the Irish should realise that diplomats were an espionage threat.

De Valera saw red. Walshe went to London to warn Marlin that if the American divulged that Irish diplomats were being used as American spies, all co-operation would be cut off.

At that point, the OSS intervened with Roosevelt to impress on him the extent of secret Irish co-operation and the second note was scrapped, but the damage had been done to de Valera's reputation in America. The episode has contributed to two great myths that de Valera was indifferent to the fate of the Allies, and that Ireland was actually neutral during the war.

So they had no proof of anything just the suggestion that they posed a threat. They leaked it to the press when rejected and then backed down when it was due to be revealed that the US were using Irish diplomats in Berlin, Rome and Vichy as spies since 1943. And the OSS sided with Ireland.

Debunked? Not according to the Allies, and they were the ones who were monitoring the communications from Hempel the Nazi in Dublin back to Germany.

Answer these questions:Why do you think both the Americans and British strove so hard to try to shut down Hempels activities in Ireland?

After the war, the Allies had plenty of other things to be doing, but why do you think the US and Allied forces requested that the Irish government extradite Hempel to stand trial? Dev refused, knowing the Allies had details of thousands of messages Hempel sent, which cost Allied lives.

Why did the German government pay if it was a deliberate attack? Of course the Nazi government didn't pay straight away being locked in a World War.

An amatuer historians claim that it was a deliberate attack with no proof. Let's look at those claims shall we?

That the German attack was targeting the Aras and Dublin fire stations for aiding Belfast the previous month. Why then only send one Do17 with 6 bombs aboard? They didn't.

On the night of 31 May 1941, several single German aircraft were spotted by the coast watching service over Dublin, which appeared to be circling the city and were apparently lost. Irish troops launched warning flares, which were ignored; subsequently, anti-aircraft guns opened fire on the planes, without hitting them. Shortly afterwards, three bombs fell in Ballybough, Summerhill and the Phoenix Park, destroying several houses and causing minor damage to Áras an Uachtaráin, without loss of life. A fourth bomb hit the North Strand area with devastating effect, killing 28 people, injuring 90 and destroying or damaging over 300 homes. Although initially denying any involvement, the German government eventually accepted responsibility and paid compensation to the victims after the war.

Dublin was distinctive from the air? What where the weather conditions that night?

The pilot, known only as "Heinrich", said their target had been Belfast. But either a fault in the guiding beam system or the bad weather that night led them astray.
"Can you forgive us for that mistake? Please forgive me for this mistake which was beyond our control," he said. The strategy was always to bomb military targets, and if they missed they hoped for minimal civilian injuries and damage.
There was an inquiry when they got home and, when they realised what had happened, "quite a bit of excitement." A lot of blame was put on the meteorological people for giving the wrong forecast. Nobody knew what had happened.

Which also negates your claim that the plane was shot down? Have you a link to that?

And finally lets see what Churchill thought?

"the bombing of Dublin on the night of 30 May 1941, may well have been an unforeseen and unintended result of our interference with 'Y'". He was speaking of the Battle of the Beams, wherein "Y" referred to the direction finding radio signals that the Luftwaffe used to guide their bombers to their targets.

Stop editing the Irish reply to Roosevelt out!

The President interrupted to say that he believed in being perfectly frank. He said 'you are reported as having said that the Irish had nothing to fear from a German victory'. Mr. Aiken said he had said nothing of the kind, and I backed him up in this, and further said that we had seen no report alleging any such statement.

Why was Roosevelt annoyed by Aiken? Was it because we wanted assurances that Britain wouldn't invade Ireland?

Mr. Aiken, standing, asked the President whether we could say that he (the President) sympathised with Ireland's stand against aggression. The President replied 'against German aggression'. Mr. Aiken said 'or British aggression'. The President said 'Nonsense, you don't fear an attack from England. England is not going to attack you. It's a preposterous suggestion.' Mr. Aiken said why did the British refuse to give us a specific undertaking on this point when they were asked to. The President said 'It is absurd nonsense, ridiculous nonsense. Why, Churchill would never do anything of that kind. I wouldn't mind saying it to him myself.' Mr. Aiken said 'Will you do this, Mr. President'. He said 'I certainly will. I'll ask Churchill myself.' Mr. Aiken then said 'Would you give an instruction, Mr. President, that we get a definite yes or no on the matter of supplies within a few days'. He said 'I will do that.' We then withdrew, the interview having lasted from 12.30 to 1.45.

This is my 3rd time correcting you on this.

Do you think the Americans did not have ears? Why do you think the President of America said to Dev's representative Aiken "you are reported as having said that the Irish had nothing to fear from a German victory"? And they threw a fit, throwing knives and cutlery? Roosevelt must have believed it.

Why did the American want to extradite Hempel after the war?

The Nazi did not pay: it was the West German government long long after the war who paid a small token amount.

Final payment was not made until 1958 and used Marshall Aid money. The Germans threw us a few bob of American money and hoped they could then trade with us, sll us cars in the future etc.

No money could compensate for 28 dead and many more seriously injured anyway.

The Nazi aircraft circled around the well lit up city of Dublin, quite distinctive from the air because of the Liffey, Dublin Bay etc, before dropping the bombs. Do you think the Nazi pilots were blind? UK cities had blackouts and did not have rivers like the Liffey flowing west to East in to Dublin Bay.

I already debunked that amatuer historians theory with a list of facts from the relevant authorities. Weather was bad that night with low visibility yet you claim it was well lit up and distinctive despite the actual pilots report!