You can't have this kind of politics without money. The simple question that Michael Keyes examines in this ground breaking book is how O'Connell financed his political organisation and later on, how Parnell did likewise in the 1880's.

Every modern political party is constantly fund raising and constantly worried about money.

Early Irish nationalism was no exception and until now there has been no serious examination of how they raised the money, how they accounted for it and - occasionally - how they misappropriated it. In telling this story, Michael Keyes fills in a key gap in our knowledge and understanding of how a long struggle for Irish nationalism actually functioned on the ground.