"Every drop of blood shed from 1922 is down to British rule." - Jim Carroll.

No Jim every drop of blood shed from 1922 is down to Irish stupidity on both sides of the divide and an "absolutist", no compromise mentality in both camps that adopted the creed, "My way or no way".

At the last gasp it took thirty years to bang heads together, when (as was noted by the Official IRA in 1970) by just letting things take their course the same outcome could have been achieved without the resutant loss of life in six months to a year.