Shedding light on a reluctant taoiseach

FORMER taoiseach Liam Cosgrave has said his predecessor John A Costello helped to modernise Ireland more than the country ever realised.

He said Mr Costello was far more pleasant than people appreciated and helped bring Ireland forward from the lawlessness following the Civil War.

“He made reluctant democrats out of his opponents. He could not have done more and the country deserved no less,” he said.