Not to be 'that guy' or anything, but did you think about the possibility of the lives of those Irishmen being nothing particularly fantastic? Sure, they were at the epicenter of politics but if you're in the middle of a center of agitation, there's typically a reason for it.
That might have been his point, if that's what he's dreaming about. Just because you're in the place where the action is doesn't mean your life was anything great.