In May 1560 a new office was established in the Irish administration, the first to be introduced in almost twenty years. It was that strange creation, the office of secretary of state for Ireland. The chief inspiration behind its foundation was Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex, and it is clear from his writings on the subject that he believed some special office of this kind was needed if the policy of reestablishing English government in Ireland was to be implemented successfully.

The history of Poynings’ Law is complex and multifaceted. Much has been written about it, at times with the end result being a recognition that to investigate Poynings’ Law is to venture into a quagmire. At the same time, a number of important works have been published over the years that throw light upon specific periods in the history of that law. Until recently much of the focus has been on the period stretching from the passage of the law in 1494-5 up to 1641, with some significant excursions into the eighteenth-century history of the law.

Daniel O’Connell, asked when appearing before a select committee of the House of Commons on 1 March 1825 whether there had been many Catholics among the United Irishmen, replied that there were scarcely any among the leading United Irishmen. The leading United Irishmen were almost all Presbyterians or Dissenters. In the north the lower classes of United Irishmen were at first almost exclusively Dissenters. It spread then among the Roman Catholics and as it spread into the southern counties and of course, as it took in the population, it increased in its numbers of Roman Catholics. In the county of Wexford, where the greatest part of the rebellion raged, there were no United Irishmen previous to the rebellion and there would have been no rebellion there if they had not been forced forward by the establishment of Orange lodges and the whipping and torturing and things of that kind.

The study of the Irish Civil War has undergone enormous changes in recent years, especially in terms of a new appreciation of the role played by minorities and localities in shaping the conflict. However, despite these new perspectives, the war continues to be defined almost solely with reference to its effects on the Free State. This is to ignore one of the most important military and political initiatives of the period: the combined I.R.A. campaign against partition which took place in the first six months of 1922 and persisted into the early stages of the Civil War.

Of all the cities of England and Scotland, Glasgow is most widely associated with sectarianism. As Bill Murray has remarked, the city is renowned for its religion, violence and football, three elements which crystallise in the uniquely bitter encounters between the city’s two major football clubs, Rangers and Celtic. The clubs are identified as ‘Protestant’ and ‘Catholic’ respectively, although, as Tom Gallagher has commented, supporters’ allegiances tend to be more tribal than doctrinal. Religion is inextricably bound up with nationalism in these sporting contests.

From its foundation in 1930 until the end of 1934 the Irish Hospitals Sweepstake sold the overwhelming majority of its tickets in Great Britain. Alarmed at the success of an enterprise that was illegal in its jurisdiction and that resulted in a considerable financial drain to the Irish Free State’s hospital service, the British government enacted a Betting and Lotteries Act in 1934 to curtail the sale of Irish sweepstake tickets there. The result was a substantial decline in British contributions to the sweepstake and in the overall income from ticket sales. The British action threatened the continued existence and success of the venture.