About the Author

John Cooney, a Scot, is a journalist and broadcaster. A former political, European and religious affairs correspondent with The Irish Times, he is the author of The Crozier and the D�il: Church and State in Ireland, 1922-1986. He has written extensively for The Herald in Glasgow and for the Irish Independent. He is Director of the annual Humbert Summer School, which promotes Irish studies. A history graduate of the University of Glasgow, he is a visiting honorary Research Fellow in Irish history at the University of Aberdeen. He lives in Dublin with his wife and three children.