VG's comments on Irish (ie. Eire) sympathies toward Germany in WW2 are essentially true, but should be balanced by a knowledge of British refusal to grant independence to Ireland (or, at least the southern section, and the atrocities committed by British troops in Ireland.
Here's a entry from Wikipedia that gives a glimpse of incidents that stirred up hatred against the British:
Irish War of Independence
On 9 August 1920, the British Parliament passed the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act during the Anglo-Irish War. It replaced the trial by jury by courts-martial by regulation for those areas in Ireland where IRA activity was prevalent. [14] To combat the Irish Republican Army, Winston Churchill, then UK Secretary of State for War, suggested recruiting World War I veterans to boost the strength of the Royal Irish Constabulary . Lloyd George agreed and advertisements were placed in newspapers. The recruits were formed into groups of temporary constables who became known as the Black and Tans, so called because of their mixture of British Army and police uniforms. Veterans who had held officers rank were formed into the Auxiliary Division, who were better paid and received better supplies.
Kevin Barry, an 18-year-old medical student and Irish Republican Army paramilitary, was captured following a gun battle between IRA paramilitaries and British soldiers, in which three British soldiers were killed. [15] Following his capture, Barry was interrogated and allegedly subjected to violence and threats of murder by British soldiers. [15] The British Government denied POW status to IRA paramilitaries and Barry was reportedly interrogated under torture by British servicemen without access to a solicitor or civilian constable. He refused to name the others present at the ambush, and was subsequently charged and convicted of first degree murder by a military tribunal on 28 October 1919, and executed by hanging on 1 November 1919. [16] John Ainsworth, author of Kevin Barry, the Incident at Monk's bakery and the Making of an Irish Republican Legend, has pointed out that Barry had been captured by the British not as a uniformed soldier but disguised as a civilian and in possession of flat-nosed "Dum-dum" bullets, in contravention of the Hague Convention of 1899. [17]
Bloody Sunday began when Michael Collins' assassin squad, known as "The Twelve Apostles", assassinated 13 British intelligence agents, including most of the "Cairo Gang". That same afternoon, British security forces opened fire on a crowd attending a Gaelic football match in Croke Park, killing 14 civilians.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_war_crimes
In any event the politics of the Irish problem have little to do with Church atrocities toward children.