So Dev was ‘England’s greatest spy’. Yes, and the devil in disguise too

THE author of England’s Greatest Spy: Eamon de Valera was interviewed by John Green on Radio Kerry during the week. The 470-page book, by John J Turi, will not be published until the last day of November so it is not possible to comment on it.

It seems extraordinary, however, that it is assiduously plugged more than a month before publication. The pre-publicity is causing a sensation.

All of 20 years ago, in my book De Valera: The Man and the Myths, I dealt with a whole series of fictions about the Long Fellow. Many people thought his policies helped Britain, but seriously suggesting that he was doing so deliberately as a British spy is a different matter.