By Lee Moran Updated: 16:42 GMT, 26 January 2012 Ireland has admitted for the first time that its 'morally bankrupt' regime of the 1930s denied visas to desperate Jews trying to escape from Nazi persecution. Justice Minister Alan Shatter said that, following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Ireland's anti-semitic Berlin ambassador Charles Bewley ensured 'the doors to this state were kept firmly closed to German Jewish families trying to flee'. The admission came as he apologised for the way brave soldiers who 'deserted' the Irish Army to fight with the Allies during the Second World War were treated. Denied: Jewish families, such as the ones pictured in this 1943 photo being rounded up in the Warsaw Ghetto, were denied entry to Ireland in the 1930s
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Justice Minister Alan Shatter says 'doors to state were kept firmly closed to Jews fleeing Hitler' while UK took thousands
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Sorry for way 'deserter' Irish soldiers fighting for allies were treated
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They were barred from jobs and state pensions on their return
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Links two issues and hints at upcoming official pardon
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