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True to Ireland

$38.00

True to Ireland

SKU: 9780995110786 Categories: ,

Temporarily out of stock

ISBN: 9780995110786
Title: True to Ireland
Author: BURKE PETER

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.

Peter Burke was born in
Wellington and is an old boy
of St Patrick’s College. He has
worked for more than 50 years
as a journalist in television,
radio, print and public relations.
He travelled widely overseas
covering political and trade talks
in Europe, Asia, North America
and the Pacific, eventually
specialising in agricultural journalism. Peter is a life
member of the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and
the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand.
He’s a keen (rather than good) golfer, loves Celtic and
classical music and lives on a small farm south of Levin.
Regarding Ireland as his second home, Peter frequently
spends time in the Emerald Isle, and his visits have led
him to develop a love of Irish and family history.

Format: Trade paperback
Price: $38.00