nations. However, many Irish ships were attacked by belligerents on both sides. Over 20% of Irish seamen, on clearly marked neutral vessels, died, in the Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II. While civilian aircraft in other countries were frequently requisitioned for military purposes, Aer Lingus continued to fly a service between Dublin and Liverpool throughout the war. Winston Churchill, the British wartime Prime Minister, made an attack on the Irish Government and in particular Éamon de Valera in his radio broadcast on VE Day. Churchill maintained that the British government displayed restraint on the Irish state while the de Valera government were allowed to "frolic with the Germans". Churchill maintained that the British could have invaded the Irish state, but displayed "considerable restraint" in not doing so. De Valera replied to Churchill in a radio broadcast: Mr. Churchill makes it clear that in certain circumstances he would have violated our neutrality and that he would justify his action by Britain's necessity. It seems strange to me that Mr. Churchill does not see that this, if accepted, would mean that Britain's necessity would become a moral code and that when this necessity became sufficiently great, other people's rights were not to count....this same code is precisely why we have the disastrous succession of wars... shall it be world war number three? Ireland applied to join the United Nations in 1945, but this was blocked by an objection by the Soviet Union in the security council. Seán MacBride considered that the UN boycott of Ireland was originally agreed to at the 1945 Yalta Conference by Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Despite MacBride's belief, the United Kingdom fully supported Ireland's applications to join the UN.(Ireland eventually joined the United Nations in 1955.) The Cold War During the Cold War, Ireland maintained its policy of neutrality. It did not align itself officially with NATOor the Warsaw Pact either. It refused to join NATO due to its sovereignty claims over Northern Ireland, which was administered by the United Kingdom, a NATO member. Ireland offered to set up a separate alliance with the United States but this was refused. This offer was linked in part to the $133 million received from the Marshall Aid Plan. However, secret transmission of information from the government to the CIA started in 1955. The link was established by Liam Cosgrave via a Mr. Cram and the Irish embassy in London,