This doesn't surprise me. The Irish hated the English. A matter of fact, my grandmother moved from Ireland in the late 30's. She then received a Christmas card from my great grandmother a few years later. On the card there is a Nazi swastika on the corner of it.
"The Irish hated the English."
Let's see, the English invaded their country, took away their land, persecuted them for being Catholic, treated them like trash ... and there's the little matter of the potato famine. Gee, I can't understand why?