A mother of thirteen and a German internee recall life in Ireland during the Emergency.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the the Irish Free State adopted a policy of neutrality, a period called 'The Emergency'.
Widow Mrs Donegan reared 13 children in Marrowbone Lane in the Liberties of Dublin. During the Emergency she recalls rationing, and how she would outsmart the glimmer man employed to detect the use of gas in restricted periods.
Tea and sugar were scarce during the Emergency but with such a big family, Mrs Donegan had two ration books. This allowed her to share some tea with her neighbour who would give her sugar in return. Despite the shortages, food staples were not expensive,
Good solid cheap food, you know, that’s why there’s fine big men and women now, you didn’t spend much at all.
Gay Byrne interjects with his outstanding memory from the period. After the war, bananas were delivered to a shop on the South Circular Road in Dublin,
People actually dashed to put on their hat and coat to come down and see this shop where bananas were for the first time.
Mrs Donegan’s three sons have served in the Congo and Cyprus with the Irish Army. She is a strong advocate for the army,
If I had 20 sons, I’d throw them into it.
Alfred Heinzl has a different experience of the Emergency. He was part of a Luftwaffe crew that departed the German base in Brest northern France on a bombing mission. On 3 March 1941, their Heinkel 111 plane was shot down over the Irish sea and they made a forced landing near Our Lady's Island, in County Wexford. The crew members were arrested, handed over to the Irish Army and taken to the internment camp in the Curragh, County Kildare.
German Luftwaffe internees were housed in specially prepared accommodation near the Curragh golf links. Alfred Heinzl notes that eventually when he could afford it, he was permitted to travel from the Curragh as often as he liked.
When the other German internees returned home Alfred Heinzl applied for and was granted permission to remain in Ireland.
An episode of 'The Late Late Show' broadcast on 11 January 1975. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
