[Olog-hai]

Neither Cyprus nor Malta is Ireland, though. The Emerald Isle has that unique (to say the least) character to it that neither Cypriots nor Maltese possess, especially having animosity dating back to Dermot Mac Murrough’s “selling out” to Henry II, which led to Strongbow’s eventual conquest (although this was all authorized by Pope Alexander III).

The Easter Rising, sad to say, was an inspiration for Lenin’s Bolshevik Revolution (at least via his “comrade” in that rebellion, James Connolly).

[Winniesboy]

All true, but then it's long ceased to be the British Commonwealth: indeed, these days the UK takes rather a back seat in the affairs of an organisation which now includes states (Mozambique, Rwanda etc) which were never part of the British Empire and have no historic relationship with Britain. The fact that the UK was joining at the same time evidently didn't deter the Republic of Ireland from joining the EEC in 1973; and the EU includes member states whose historic relationship was even more fraught than that between Britain and Ireland

When nations form alliances, as Machiavelli conclusively demonstrated, they're motivated by actual or perceived current self-interest, and historic enmity becomes irrelevant. I'm only fantasising, of course: but then this whole thread is derived from a fantasy, and stranger things have happened.