Starvation Order

Starvation Order is an informal name given to an emergency order made by the Irish Government to penalise certain named deserters from its armed forces. The order was the Emergency Powers (No. 362) Order 1945, passed on 8 August 1945 under the Irish Emergency Powers Act 1939. Those affected were over 4,000 men who had deserted during World War II to join the armed forces of belligerent nations - in effect those of the Allies, principally Britain.

The informal name arises from effects of the Order, which made it difficult for the former deserters to obtain either work or unemployment benefit and thus provide for their families. Critics and children of deserters have stated that they were consequently malnourished. By the end of 2011, publicity was being generated by supporters of a campaign to pardon the surviving people named on the list of deserters. The supporters include members of the Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) and, in an apparent reversal of attitude, Sinn Fein.