Divis,

Very true. And De Valera turned Churchill down because he didn't want a million protestants in his precious catholic republic.

Talking about Irishmen who fought in the British forces during World War 2, here's an interesting link about James Magennis, a catholic from West Belfast who was Northern Ireland's only VC of the war:

http://www.victoriacross.net/forum_topic.asp?topics=30&tid=1736