Another injustice needs resolution

The announcement that Justice and Defence Minister Alan Shatter has awarded the Military Star Medal to Private Patrick Kelly who died on active service in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim in 1983, (Irish Examiner, Jul 16) is to be welcomed, as is the decision to pardon those deserters who were unduly penalised for joining the British army during the Second World War.

There is a further serious military injustice that still needs to be resolved, and that is the case of Lieutenant Dónal De Róiste, who was wrongfully dismissed from the Defence Forces in 1969 as a result of false allegations that he may have been involved with subversives.

The case of Lieutenant Dónal De Róiste has echoes of the French Captain Dreyfus case, in 1894, except that Dreyfus did achieve restorative justice after ten years. Dónal De Róiste has been denied justice for the past 43 years. Alan Shatter TD, as both Minister for Justice and Minister for Defence, is ideally placed to intervene and initiate the processes leading to a full pardon for Lt De Róiste.