Ireland’s one shining light in the Nazi gloom

The Vatican Pimpernel. By Brian Fleming, Collins Press, €16.50

Ireland’s ambiguous relationship with World War II is best encapsulated by events in Dublin on the day when the Allies declared victory. When other cities were rejoicing at the collapse of the horrors of Nazism, here future Irish taoiseach Charlie Haughey was leading a riot of Catholic students (some waving Nazi flags in bravado) against the locked gates of Trinity College, a riot initially ...