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Acknowledgements A number of people made this book possible. My PhD dissertation at UCC could not have been completed without financial assistance secured by the School of History. Thanks to Professor Dermot Keogh, Gabriel Doherty and Dr Hiram Morgan for helping secure that assistance. I am grateful for the assistance received from the staff at Q-1 in the Boole Library, UCC; Gregory O’Connor and the staff at the National Archives, Dublin; Commandant Victor Laing at the Bureau of Military History; Brian Kirby at the Capuchin Provincial Archives; Kieran Burke and the team at the Cork City Library Local Studies Department; Brian McGee, Michael Higgins and Peter McDonnell at the Cork City and County Archives; and Dan Breen at the Cork Public Museum. Special thanks are due to Andrew Bielenberg for allowing me to pick his brains on economic policy; and Donal Ó Drisceoil who is an oracle on Cork labour and commercial history. Thanks also to Gabriel Doherty who was an insightful supervisor of my PhD dissertation. I also received assistance and support from my fellow PhD students at UCC including Donal Corcoran, James Ryan and Sarah-Anne Buckley. I am grateful for hospitality afforded me during my research trips by Niall and Dr Catherine de Barra, Chris and Claudia Murray, and Andrew Daly. Brendan O’Shea and Gerry White provided me with hours of thought and debate about this subject. Throughout the past number of years, I have been sustained by frequent chicken dinners from Kevin and Caoimhe Kiely of Preghane House, Kinsale, and Sunday brunches by Conal Creedon and Fiona O’Toole, of Coburg Street, Cork. Special recognition is also due to my devoted siblings and nephews, my loving mother Roberta, and my late father Roy, who pushed me to finish in time for him to see my PhD conferment. Sadly, that deadline was missed. ix ...

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