Yes, Sanjiv, I can offer some advice about the literature on Irish temperance.
Beyond the mongraphs by Malcolm and Kerrigan, I would suggest you examine the
following:  R.F. Bales, "Attitudes toward Drinking in the Irish Culture," in
David J. Pitman and Charles R. Synder (eds.), Society, Culture and Drinking
Patterns (1962), pp. 157-87; James R. Barrett, "Why Paddy Drank: The Social Im-
portance of Whiskey in Pre-Famine Ireland," Journal of Popular Culture 11 (1977
): 155-66; John F. Quinn, "The 'Vagabond Friar': Father Mathew's Difficulties w
ith the Irish Bishops, 1840-56," Catholic Historical Review 78 (1992): 542-56;
John F. Quinn, "Father Mathew's Crusade: Temperance in ireland, 1838-56" (Univ.
of Nortre Dame, Ph.D. diss., 1992); Elizabeth Malcolm, "The Catholic Church and
the Irish Temperance Movement, 1838-1901," Irish Historical Studies 23 (1982):
1-16; Elizabeth Malcolm, "Temperance and Irish Nationalism," in F.S.L. Lyons an
d R.A.J. Hawkins (eds.), Ireland Under the Union: Varieties of Tensions (1980),
pp. 69-114.  An older, but still valuable, dissertation is George Bretherton's
"The Irish Temperance Movement, 1829-47" (Columbia Univ., Ph.D. diss., 1978).
I hope you find this points you in the right direction.
 
      David W. Gutzke
      History Dept.
      SW MO State Univ.
 
QUIT