Ireland History – Northern Irish History Belfast Dublin

The failure of the Bruce invasion did not check the recovery of the Irish, which had already begun. On the contrary, the recovery became more pronounced and the clans stronger. The devastation of war, famine, and pestilence had brought the whole island to ruin, and in this were involved the two races and all classes. [...]

The settlers had suffered most from the effects of the invasion, and of the evils which had accompanied it.   They had all the weakness of a foreign element which needed externalhelp to enable it to develop. And this external help, as already noted  had for some time been missing. The Bruces had been fought by [...]