This study focuses on the complex engagements between the Republic of Ireland and the emergency in Cyprus during the 1950s. Helen O’Shea pursues multiple investigations at the public, private and individual level to demonstrate the extent and substance of these engagements. For many Irish nationalists, Cyprus was simply another example of perfidious Albion, providing useful propaganda in pursuit of a united Ireland. For others it was a more complex issue and O’Shea provides fascinating insights into the many Irish-born men (and they are nearly all men in this discussion) who administered Cyprus during this tumultuous period. The first chapter provides an overview of the question of Enosis and charts Irish involvement in British Cyprus as well as early criticism of the imperial system there. This is followed by a number of chapters focusing on the emergency period in the 1950s. These deal with the Irish media response, relationships between the I.R.A. and E.O.K.A., the response of the Irish churches to the crisis, and Irish foreign policy. Two chapters interrogate the contribution of Irish lawyers to the emergency legislation and the military operation. There is an interesting and thoughtful introduction by Owen Dudley Edwards who recalls the anti-British atmosphere in Dublin during the time.

There is much of interest here and it is a complex story. For the British, Cyprus was always an imperial and strategic issue given its position in the eastern Mediterranean. Yet Cyprus brought into relief all the problems associated with the end of empire, whether British or Ottoman. In a similar fashion to Ireland, Cyprus highlights myths of nation and nationality: was the island Greek, Turkish or Cypriot? Should it be ‘united’ with Greece, become a single state or be partitioned? The author recognises these issues but cautions at drawing too many comparisons between Ireland and Cyprus. Ireland was cited as an example of what should not be done, but even by the 1950s the imperial and military mind seemed incapable of learning from previous experience. Repression, executions and mistreatment of prisoners became a feature of the Emergency. It is unlikely that the Irish-born officials administering emergency rule (including applying the death penalty) were perceived as Irish by either side. They would have been understood as British in the sense applied by Linda Colley.

The response in Ireland is intriguing. Irish newspapers do not comment extensively on the Emergency. The Catholic church followed the Vatican’s anti-Communist position that Britain should retain the island. The Church of Ireland was more forceful, having developed close links with Greek Orthodoxy in various ecumenical bodies, which the Catholic church had not done. Indeed, the Church of Ireland was critical of British policy in Cyprus, a significant shift in its public stance. The Irish government was cautious in respect of the crisis, due in part to its need to respond to the I.R.A.’s border campaign. At the United Nations, Frederick Boland, the permanent representative, was sympathetic to the British position but this changed when Fianna Fáil returned to office in 1957. Frank Aiken and Conor Cruise O’Brien took a more independent and robust approach to the question, much to the chagrin of the British who seemed to expect Irish compliance with their position.

Not surprisingly the I.R.A. and Seán MacBride, leader of Clann na Poblachta, were in favour of the Greek position. MacBride advised the Greek government in its case at the Council of Europe, a stance opposed by the Irish government. The most interesting section of the book is the author’s discussion of the Irish delegation at the Council of Europe and the role played by James Crosbie, Fine Gael senator and owner of the Cork Examiner. Crosbie is shown to be an interesting figure with a keen sense of the need to maintain civil liberties in Europe. Cyprus was a test case for Europe and when the Greek government took the Cyprus case to the European Court of Human Rights, Crosbie was a member of the commission sent to the island to pursue a settlement between the parties. Crosbie’s contribution seems to have been important in achieving consensus within the commission and possibly contributed to the release of Archbishop Makarios from exile.

Helen O’Shea makes the persuasive case that there was an extensive Irish presence in Cyprus during the emergency period. While most administered British rule, others were involved in more neutral roles in education and health. What is in evidence throughout the book is that Britain had learnt nothing from its experience in Ireland and that the dead hand of empire remained in place. What had happened between the 1920s and 1950s is that public opinion in Britain and elsewhere was more openly critical of imperial attitudes and the case for empire much weaker than hitherto. In the conclusion, O’Shea poses important questions about ethnicity and nationality, asking what it means to be Irish if one is serving in the British Empire. For her there is no simple answer to the question; indeed it quite rightly poses further questions for the historian of Ireland, Britain and Empire.