Russian ambassador Yury Filatov’s claim on International Holocaust Memorial Day earlier this week that Ireland is in no position to lecture other countries on morality given its neutrality during the second World War was clearly hypocritical and self-serving but, whether we like it or not, he does have a point. Irish neutrality during the second World War and since can be defended on the grounds of pragmatic self interest but it is not, and never was, the moral stance that some of its strongest advocates proclaim. For a start, Ireland’s record in refusing to admit Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during...