Opening Lines

IF the Scots vote yes on Thursday, rest assured that will not be the end of the story.

Inevitably it will also lead to other independence movements elsewhere in these islands. The Welsh may want more autonomy. It makes things complicated in the North and of course, one area that has always sought self-determination may seek to re-establish itself as an independent entity: Cork.

The county has always thought of itself as being a people apart. The phrase the ‘Rebel County’ stems from the time the people of Cork supported a pretender to the English throne during the War of the Roses, Perkin Warbeck. After briefly slagging him off over his name, several Cork luminaries went to England to fight with him, lost and were executed; despite the excuse of “we were only ball-hopping, like”.