Operation Shamrock

Operation Shamrock was a scheme bringing non-Jewish refugee children from mainland Europe to Ireland in the aftermath of the Second World War.

People were aware of the Nazi influence within the group with Irish Times columnist Vincent Brittain describing it as ‘merely a thinly veiled excuse for the dissemination of Fascist propaganda’.

[1] It had contact with religious charities in the British Zone and approached the Irish government about transporting children from there via Great Britain.

[1] The SGCS applied to the Allied Control Council and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration but was advised to use the Irish Red Cross to arrange for migration.

[1] German Catholic charity Caritas had by May selected 100 children aged between 5 and 14, predominantly from the Ruhr area of North Rhine Westphalia.

[2][1][3] The initial reception centre was St. Kevin's Hostel at Glencree, County Wicklow, a former reformatory school owned by the Minister for Supplies.

[12][13] There Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul nuns provided treatment for transmissible diseases and malnutrition.

[1][3][17] In March 1997, a reunion of over 300 foster-children and families was held at the German embassy in Dublin, attended by Presidents Mary Robinson of Ireland and Roman Herzog of Germany.