'Why pay the tax when we can do this ourselves?' - how did Donegal become part of the 'poitin republic'?
"A huge trade developed, a massive trade," says Mr Beattie.
"They invented a brand of poitin called Inishowen, which had a reputation for quality so was very marketable." "It was a very simple process - the big problem making it was the smoke, you could see the smoke going up in the hills, that's why remote areas were so successful. "When the government discovered they were losing vast amounts of money they sent in the army and that then escalated the whole situation and you had a cutter on the [River] Foyle to block it and try to stop it," says Mr Beattie.
"Then of course people couldn't pay their fines so the next stage was the army would move in and the police and they'd round up livestock and put them into pounds and that in turn generated huge poverty and hardship for people. While the government clampdown had an effect in suppressing the trade to an extent, it kept going on for most of the 19th Century, interrupted by the famine.
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