From IRA’s ‘chosen one’ to international statesman

By Caoimhe Nic Dhábhéid Liverpool University Press, €81.90 Seán MacBride A Republican Life: 1904-1946

Somebody should write a book comparing the emergence through revolutionary activity of Seán MacBride and Seán Lemass. Both names have become synonymous with the Easter Rising by accident.

Lemass found out about it as a 14-year-old, fired a few shots from the roof of the GPO and, when the insurrectionists surrendered, was simply sent home with a clip across ...