Keith,
It really boils down to whether you think WW1 was a 'worthy cause' - personally I believe it to have been senseless butchery in support of a cause which amounted to little more than a family squabble between various European Royal families. The Irish were not the only ones 'duped' into participating in the slaughter - and eventually the Russians showed good sense in walking away from it all.
There is a remarkable description in Thomas M Coffey's excellent account of The Easter Rising, 'Agony At Easter', telling how the rebels had to be protected from a mob of screaming women gathered outside the GPO demanding "Why aren't you out there supporting our boys in the trenches".   
Ironically it was British mindless brutality in executing the leaders of the uprising which reversed the situation and made the fight for independence a popular one.
Jim Carroll