Quotes from Tim Pat Coogan

Lloyd George never felt secure enough to adopt such a policy and place the various forces in Ireland under a unified command as both the generals and the revamped Irish Executive demanded.

This missive, the first time the Pope had spoken on the Irish question, was highly unwelcome to the British. Curzon thought it 'just the sort of casuistic performance that might have been expected from the Vatican

The Collins grave plot is 4 ft in width and 8 ft in depth and the 'Celtic Cross' intended to be erected thereon will be 11? 6? in height and the sculptor has specified for a minimum base of 4? 6? x 3? 0? x 1? 3? high. While the plot in its present layout is fully that width the committee will not allow the foundation of the monument to exceed 4? without Government authority.32

Boland took the unexpected position that the use of force in pursuit of a principle lowered its value. Collins agreed with Beaslai who quoted Shaw's Armourer: 'Nothing is ever done in this world unless men are prepared to kill one another, if it is not done.

none of the elected representatives present ever seems to have reflected on the irony of the fact that of all the views and arguments put forward, none was prefaced by the simple expression 'my constituents...'.

Lawrence was working under Churchill in the Colonial Office and growing increasingly embittered at the betrayal of British Governmental war-time promises made to the Arabs through him.

Collins did not merely weigh up the reaction to the subsequent death from wounds of the unfortunate Smith; he analysed the reasons why the detective 'kept running', and from then on the Squad was armed not with .38 but .45 revolvers.

to paraphrase Lincoln's remark when Grant's drinking was reported to him, if Collins did drink as heavily as alleged I would seriously advocate that the cadets in the Irish Army Staff college be instructed to partake of a few glasses of his favourite John Jameson

Byrne, for example, remembered going to confession to 'a great priest, Father Moriarty of South William Street. I told him: "I shot a man, Father." "Did you think you were doing right? Had you no qualms about it?" he asked me. I told him I didn't have any qualms, I thought I was doing right, and he said, "Carry on with the good work," and gave me absolution.

One inevitability of the Collins strategy was war, because as the police system crumbled, the British were forced to replace it with a military one.

Cathal Brugha, as Minister for Defence, wanted documentary proof of guilt to be provided beforehand so as to be able to satisfy an international commission (which he visualised being set up after hostilities had ended)

One of the bedevilling factors of the Volunteer campaign was land hunger, a desire on the part of some unscrupulous people to profit from the disorders of the time.

In going about the thing that has struck me the most is the untidiness and uncleanliness that comes from bad mattresses... This is of great importance from the health point of view.

The Committee found two problems: On the one hand the Government was committed against any solution which would break with the unity of the Empire. On the other, it was committed that Ulster must not be forced under the rule of an Irish parliament against its will.

Brugha argued against ambushes, preferring what Deasy termed 'straight fights'. He wanted the ambushers to call on the Auxiliaries or Tans to surrender before fire was opened. The Cork OCs pointed out that if they did this they would be robbed of their principal weapon, surprise, which they badly needed against a numerically superior and more heavily armed enemy.

In their judgement it is essential, now that the war is over, and the peace Conference has dealt with so many analogous questions in Europe, that the Government should make a sincere attempt to deal with the Irish question once and for all.

The second again precludes them from again attempting what has so often failed in the past, the establishment of a single parliament for all Ireland on the lines of the Home Rule Acts of 1886, 1893 and 1914.

the type of Home Rule which would be agreeable to Britain was going to be very far short of the All-Ireland Republic which the Sinn Feiners had declared for themselves at the beginning of the year.

I assent to this proposed Bill as effecting an ingenious strengthening of our tactical position before the world. I am absolutely satisfied that the Sinn Feiners will refuse it.

the phase of daring escapades, of raids and rallies, gave way to the inevitable grimmer phase when the implications of the war began to strike home to everybody.

On the one hand the Irish began to prove the truth of the assertion that successful revolutions are in fact no more than the kicking down of an already rotted door.

The tiny handful of Volunteers – probably no more than three or four thousand strong countrywide – with their revolvers and shotguns began to paralyse the entire British system, or so it seemed.

They had seen how the taint of being pro-German had weakened the Irish-American movement during the war.

the British position was so untenable morally that they could not use their Army properly and were never able to put forth their full military might.