Irish in Royalist ECW

[deadtorius]

I have been scanning sites looking for flags for my Royalist ECW army and came across one site that has 3 flags for Irish fighting for the King. It sounds like they were part of the Royalist army and not with Monty in Scotland.
First off does this sound right? Secondly I am currently looking at the later royalist list, would they be Regional foot Regiment?
I was just wondering if I could get some Irish to work double duty for me in more than one army.

[ottomanmjm]

A number of Irish were brought across from Ireland to join the English Royalist (I think it was in late 1643). They were considered more of a hinderance than a help as they were poorly equipped, many not having shoes, and they had a tendency to plunder the local population which did not help the Royalist cause.

Regards
Martin

[mellis1644]

Well the King tried to bring over a number of 'Irish' regiments from the army in Ireland in late 43 and early 44. Of those that made it over the Irish sea and through the naval blockade some had been raised in Ireland but many were Royal army units from before the conflict had started. The King did not get as many as he would have liked to England but they were a noticeable minority in Royalist field armies. They did exist though and were talked about extensively in Parliamentary propaganda of the time.

Those that ended up in the Royalist army were of mixed quality, some likely good but some not so much. However, many of the officers as well as the men in these units were catholic and obviously had spent time in Ireland. These factors caused issues when they were in England. This would mean they were more likely to fight well - after all, surrender or defeat was not a good option for them. Irish and/or Catholics were not well treated in the war and there are some massacres which occurred. So, I would say they were at least equal of most other Royalist units at the time and thus could be veterans or normal regiments.

Regional foot IMO represents the garrison troops pulled into the Royalist armies who were poorly trained and poorly led for field engagements. Marston moor has several such units where they all 'under performed' - i.e. were quick to leg it when things went wrong.