On several occasions, Irish nationalists took advantage of crises in Britain to launch rebellions. In
the Emergency during
World War II, some Irish republicans repurposed the phrase in advocacy of an alliance with
Nazi Germany on the basis that it was at war with the United Kingdom. According to a 1998 article in
Irish America, the motto "didn't always work successfully for the Irish". Some Irish nationalists, including the
Irish Republican Brotherhood, rejected the idea, believing that bloody conflict was more likely to draw attention to their cause and help them achieve their aims.
O'Donovan Rossa complained that anyone who employed the phrase was a "fraud" and in practice used it as an excuse to do nothing while supposedly awaiting the 'difficulty', as they did not actually take advantage of the "opportunities" provided by England's difficulties when they later occurred. In a biography of
James Stephens, Marta Ramón wrote that the unwritten coda of the motto was often "let's bide our time". Stephens, however, rejected that idea.
Seamus Heaney wrote a poem titled "England's Difficulty" which appeared in
Stations, in which he asserted that during
the Troubles, the opportunity resulting from England's difficulty was actually a source of trouble for many Irish people, who, akin to
double agents, were torn between multiple loyalties. ==References==