HC Deb 06 May 1919 vol 115 c724
7. Commander Viscount CURZON

asked the Secretary of State for War whether any difference has been made in the treatment of the thirty-three members of the Casement Brigade who have been repatriated as compared with those members of the Irish Brigade who declined to be come traitors; whether they have been given leave, kits, etc.; if they are now serving in the Army; and whether the Government are now in a position to make known their decision with regard to the future of these men?

Captain GUEST

I regret that, for reasons largely of a technical nature, it is not, in the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown, possible to proceed against the men who were released from the prisoners of war camps by the Germans, and who, presumably, joined the organisation commonly known as the "German Irish Brigade. "Consequently, as it has not been possible to place them under arrest, they have perforce been treated as any other repatriated prisoners of war. In regard to their future, orders are being issued that such men as are known to have accepted their release from the Germans shall be discharged from His Majesty's Service for misconduct.