As Europe plunges into war the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera addresses the nation.
Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, Britain issued a deadline for Germany to withdraw troops from Poland or a state of war would be declared. When the deadline passed on 03 September with no response, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain and Germany were at war.
On Radio Éireann that night, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera addressed the nation following the declaration of war in Europe.
You know from the news bulletins to which you have been listening that the great European powers are again at war.
Éamon de Valera affirmed the government resolution for Ireland to remain neutral. Repeating what he previously stated in the Dáíl, the Taoiseach explained that,
With our history, with our experience of the last war, and with a part of our country still unjustly severed from us, we felt that no other decision and no other policy was possible.
After a buildup of conflict over the past months, the people of Europe have once again been plunged into the misery of war. Éamon de Valera outlined that the objective was to keep Ireland and its people out of the war. This policy has the full support of members of the Dáil and Seanad.
On 2 September 1939, an official state of emergency was declared. On 3 September, the Emergency Powers Act was enacted in response to the outbreak of World War II.
Taoiseach Address To The Nation broadcast on Radió Éireann 3 September 1939.
