Starvation Order is an informal name given to an emergency order made by the Irish Government to penalise certain named deserters from its armed forces. The order was the Emergency Powers (No. 362) Order 1945, passed on 8 August 1945 under the Irish Emergency Powers Act 1939. Those affected were over 4,000 men who had deserted during World War II to join the armed forces of belligerent nations - in effect those of the Allies, principally Britain.