On the platform stood a policeman of normal proportions, and instead of a revolver and a truncheon he carried a copy of Ben Hur translated into Irish, which he was evidently studying for an examination important to his professional advancement. MrThewless realised that the imperial might of Great Britain lay behind him and that in front was the philosophic republic of Mr de Valera.

-Stewart,John Innes Mackintosh
  TheJourneying Boy.