VIDEO: This letter explains Tom Barry's absence at 50th anniversary of Easter Rising

Recently discovered letters show that Tom Barry, the IRA guerrilla leader in the War of Independence, candidly declined to appear at the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, due to him having fought for the British Army at the time.

Another letter, also dating from 1966, from former government minister Fionan Lynch, recalls how Sean Hurley from Drinagh in West Cork died at his side during the fighting on the rebel side in 1916.

Hurley was the only Corkman to die for the rebels during the fighting in the GPO in the Rising and the correspondence is from the 1966 commemoration of his death in Drinagh.