Emergency Powers (No. 362) Order 1945 or EPO 362 (

Statutory Rules and Orders Statutory rules and orders were the means by which delegated legislation used to be made in the United Kingdom between 1893 and 1974 and in the Irish Free State until 1947. Statutory rules and orders began with the Rules Publication Act 1893. Pri ...

No. 198 of 1945) was an Irish

ministerial order A ministerial decree or ministerial order is a decree by a ministry. With a ministerial decree the administrative department is delegated the task to impose a formal judgement or mandate. Ministerial decrees are usually imposed under the authority ...

which penalised members of the

Irish Defence Forces The Defence Forces ( ga, Fórsaí Cosanta, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in ...

who had deserted since the beginning of the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

proclaimed at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, during which the state was neutral. The order deprived those affected of pension entitlements and

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

accrued prior to their desertion, and prohibited them from employment in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, in ...

for a period of seven years. Most of those affected had deserted to join the armed forces of belligerents: in almost all cases those of the Allies, and mainly the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, ...

. The order was made on 8 August 1945 by

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the offi ...

in the then Government, using power granted to the government under the

Emergency Powers Act 1939 The Emergency Powers Act 1939 (EPA) was an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) enacted on 3 September 1939, after an official state of emergency had been declared on 2 September 1939 in response to the outbreak of the Second World War. The ...

passed on the outbreak of the War. It was revoked with effect from 1 August 1946, a month before the 1939 act lapsed; but it was in effect continued by section 13 of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1946. While some deserters had been

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of mem ...

led by the time the order was issued, most were abroad: some still on active service, others demobilised but afraid to return. For such people, the order forestalled any court-martial or consequent punishment. The order only applied to members of the

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

or who had enlisted for the duration of the Emergency; pre-war soldiers who deserted remained liable to court-martial.Canny 1999, p.246 Canny lists four motivations for the order: as positive discrimination for those who had remained in the Defence Forces; to deter future desertions; to allow deserters to return to Ireland; and to provide a simpler, cheaper alternative to courts-martial. A list of personnel affected by the order was maintained by the government; it was published in 2011. Bernard Kelly has called the order "a highly pragmatic piece of political calculation". On 18 October 1945, T. F. O'Higgins proposed in the Dáil, seconded by Patrick McGilligan, that the order be annulled, and dubbed it the starvation order because of the hardship imposed.

Richard Mulcahy Richard James Mulcahy (10 May 1886 – 16 December 1971) was an Irish Fine Gael politician and army general who served as Minister for Education from 1948 to 1951 and 1954 to 1957, Minister for the Gaeltacht from June 1956 to October 1956, ...

objected that only

enlisted men An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States m ...

were covered, not

officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

.Canny 1999, p.247 Matthew O'Reilly argued the order's penalties were in fact more lenient than those to which deserters would otherwise have been subject under

military law Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodies ...

. Canny states that in practice those covered by the order were more severely treated than those already arrested and tried. O'Higgins' motion was defeated. The

Exchange Telegraph Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

report on the motion was published in many foreign newspapers, causing

Joseph Walshe Joseph (Joe) Walshe (2 October 1886 – 6 February 1956) was an Irish civil servant and diplomat. As Secretary of the Department of External Affairs of the Irish Free State from 1923 to 1946, he was the department's most senior official. Earl ...

to complain that it gave "a mere routine measure of Army administration the character of an act of political vengeance". In the 2000s a campaign began for

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

s for those who deserted to join the Allied forces. The Defence Forces (Second World War Amnesty and Immunity) Act 2013 provided an

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

rather than a pardon, because the

Constitution of Ireland The Constitution of Ireland ( ga, Bunreacht na hÉireann, ) is the fundamental law of Ireland. It asserts the national sovereignty of the Irish people. The constitution, based on a system of representative democracy, is broadly within the traditio ...

provides that a pardon can only be granted individually by the President. The amnesty covered 4,634 people affected by the 1945 order or the 1946 act, and about 2,500 others who had been court-martialled or prosecuted in court. Michael Kennedy of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural i ...

has called for study of the motives and backgrounds of those who deserted, noting that desertion was highest in units near the

Irish border Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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