"One British gun fired on another British gun, the second British gun having been "borrowed" from the ship of the first.

Rags apart from a single unsubstantiated story recounting this supposed incident there is no evidence of what you state above ever having happened. If you actually think that it did then get digging and prove it.

"As for the Helga returning fire even your mate accepts that DID happen. That is logged. That is FACT."

Ehmmm hate to draw your attention to this Raggy but no that is not fact, but as you like FACTS try this one:

Your link states that this supposed incident occurred on the 27th of April 1916. The Helga only fired on Boland's Mill on one occasion during that Easter, on the 25th April around 20:15. That is actually logged - it was one of the chronological steps researchers for RTE noted. On the following day 26th April they also noted that Helga fired at Liberty Hall between 08:30 and 12:00 and destroyed it.

Your story is only that - a fairy tale, but as you introduced it into the debate, and Keith and myself who have challenged it giving the reasons for our scepticism, it is up to you to prove it.

"Now, it's also true that the execution of the Easter Rising participants was a totally unnecessary act on the part of the British. It appears to me that it was those executions that turned the tide of public opinion to favor Home Rule. It may have hastened the process of Home Rule, but I wonder if it also inspired the partition of Ireland."

Well noted Joe, the reason that the partition of Ireland came about was because out of a population of just over 3 million, almost 1 million wanted no part of an independent Ireland, by and large that remains the case to this day.

In 1921 de Valera was one of those who sent Michael Collins to negotiate an agreement that de Valera knew he was never going to accept - Collins was on a hiding to nothing - but in the ensuing Civil War that followed the Pro-Treaty Free Staters won. The constitutional territorial claim to the north by the Republic of Ireland was what was subsequently used by the "men of the gun" to cause murder and mayhem down through the years.