To be honest I would be hesitant to draw even the tentative conclusions conclusions so far expressed. The actual state of negotiations between the IRA and the British government were so much a state secret that I really don't believe any of the accounts I have read thus far.

I suppose if we knew the truth of one situation, we might be able to draw parallels with another.

did anybody see the tv programme on Pearse recently? There was this comment on MacDonagh to the effect that he was obviously a power to be reckoned with within the movement, but the nature of his secret activities, even now made it difficult to divine exactly the scope of it.

What I mean is, if they're still arguing about who did what in 1916, what chance of gauging what happened as recently as 1981.