A bit late to this thread...

Guys, get a sense of humor. It was a funny Irish thing to do a bit of mischief...I voted and I often listened to BBC world service when I'm abroad ;)

It also relates to a further piece of mischief in 1901 when Maud Gonne was taking 300 school children to Tara, the sacred hill of Ireland to teach them about their history. The owner of the land had a bombfire on the Hill to be lit to celebrate the New King of England, which she decided was much better lit in honor of Ireland...

So they did, dancing around it singing 'a nation once again' ....much to the disgust of the British landowner and subsequently the policeman.