Barry’s bloody war

“JUDGED by English standards, the Irish are a difficult and unsatisfactory people.

Their civilisation is different, and in many ways lower than that of the English. They are entirely lacking the Englishman’s distinctive respect for the truth.”

This paragraph from a British report into the situation in Ireland around the War of Independence gives some clue as to why the world’s biggest empire made such a balls of the situation. It is quoted in Tom Barry — Guerilla Days in Ireland, (Wednesday, TG4, 9.30pm), an exploration of the life of the legendary guerilla leader.