In the 1930s a number of Irishmen came to New Zealand to seek a better life,
with many carrying bitter memories of the atrocities committed by the Black and
Tans and the British during WWI and the early 1920s. With the onset of WWII came
the threat of conscription
into the armed forces. As citizens of a neutral country, many Irishmen refused
to betray their homeland to fight for New Zealand and, by default, Britain. They
formed the Éire National Association (ENA) to represent them in their battle
against conscription, which not only opened discussions with the New Zealand
government under Peter Fraser but also with the Irish prime minister, Éamon de
Valera, thus pioneering direct diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Peter Burke’s father was one the group of immigrant Irishmen, and he
documents the ENA’s struggles with officials and politicians and how
155 Irishmen, including his father, faced deportation back to Ireland in the
middle of WWII.
