The following are the collective opinions of those researchers involved in the research groups of The Ely O'Carroll Research Group and the Clan Cian Research Group.

The Clan Carroll and the present day Clan Cian, led by the current claimant of the title of: "The O'Carroll" Chief of the name, Ard Tiarna, Prince High Chief of Eile. Frederick James O'Carroll of California, fail to share important research materials that pertain directly to the region refered to as the Ely O'Carroll Country.

There are a few excellent books available for researchers or genealogists; however, any serious researcher must be aware and understand that in the words of His Lordship Dr. M. Harty; Bishop of Killiloe,

"A work should be judged by the standards of its time and not by the more exacting standards of historical research of later times. It is the fate of all historians to have their work corrected and updated by the better research facilities available to their successors."

The Clan Cian website seems to avoid referencing or is intentionally omitting more specialized publications; by such authors as C.A. Empey, George Cunningham, Elizabeth FitzPatrick, Kenneth W.Nicholls, David Edwards, Tim Venning, Harman Murtagh, William Nolan, Timothy P. O'Neill, Aoife Leonard, Rolf Loeber, and Peter Davies, etc. who have studied the region of Ireland once considered the Ely O'Carroll Country. Some of these authors write or have written for The Carroll Institute; established in 1989 to research and study the Territory of Eile ( a region co-extensive with present day south County Offaly and North County Tipperary).

The question must be asked. Is this an oversight, (Oversight defined as: an unintentional omission resulting from failure to notice something ) or is this a stretegic use propaganda called Omission.(Omission defined as: Deceptively omitting relevant and truthfull information that works against a thesis. The fallacy of quoting out of context uses omission. Information is taken away that undercuts the interpretation or impression that is conveyed.)

The Plantation of Ely O'Carroll 1619 -1693 by: N.D. Atkinson (1958 Thesis)

The Changing Borders of the Ely O'Carroll Lordship By: Rolf Loeber

Ely O'Carroll and Its Bordering Territories in the Twelfth Century By: George Cunningham

Ely O'Carroll: The Ele By:George Cunningham

EILE: Journal Roscrea Heritage Center

The Human Face of the Territory of Eile By: Aoife Leonard and Liz FitzPatrick

The O'Carrolls of Offaly; Their relations with the Dublin Authorities In The Sixteenth Century By Tim Venning

Assorted letters on The Extent of Ely O'Carroll. By: O'Donovan, O'Dugan, and O'Kennan

Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782 by Ronald Hoffman (2001)

Calender of the Ormond Deeds, Edmund Curtis ed, six vol. (Dublin 1932-41).

The Projected Plantation of Ormond by King Charles I, By: John P. Prendergast

Erin's Blood Royal: The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland by: Peter Berresford Ellis (2002 edition)

The Anglo Norman Advance into the SW Midlands of Ireland 1185 -1221, By: George Cunningham

The Peoples of Ireland: From Prehistory to Modern Times By: Laim De Paor

Ireland Before the Normans By: Donnchadh O Corrain

North Munster Studies By: Etienne Rynne (ed.)

Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Later Middle Ages by: K.W. Nicholls

The Munster Plantation 1580-1641 by: Michael MacCarthy Morrogh

Tipperary : History and Society By: W.Nolan and T.G. McGrath

The History of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the Year 1245. With a Brief Essay on the Native Annalists, and other sources for Illustrating Ireland and Full Statistical and Historical Notices of the Barony of Boyle: By: John D’Alton, esq. Dublin 1845

Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History (1855-56). By Eugene O’Curry, M.R.I.A. , Dublin 1861

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts 1515-1574, Edited by J.S. Brewer / William Bullen, London 1867

Signifying Place: Semiotic Realisation of Place in Irish Product Marketing; by Sheila Gaffey, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2004

Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland: An Ethnography of the Gael, A.D. 500-1750; by: C. Thomas Cairney, Ph.D., Heritage Books, 2006

A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire; By: Sir John Bernard Burke, LL.D., London 1866.

The Midland Septs and the Pale, By: Fr. Montgomery Hitchcock M.A., Dublin 1908

The Irish Before the Conquest: From the Mythical Period to the Invasion Under Strongbow, By: Lady Ferguson, Dublin 1903

By avoiding a clearer and possibly a more accurate, understanding of the region, it people and its history its easier to exploit an individual's acceptance of and willingness to support a history made to fit one's enterprises. Do we write our own histories personally or culturally, and thereby, define ourselves? How do we penetrate years, centuries of historical distortion; to find original truth- this should be a researcher's quest.

It is the recommendation of the researchers of both the Ely O'Carroll Research Group and that of the Clan Cian Research Group that if you want to learn more about Irish culture and or histories of Irish Kingdoms/lordships; that an individual locate, independant source materials. This provides for a more objective view of those histories.