I’m English and I was more than aware of Ted Kennedy giving succour to the IRA, the same with Peter King (A US Republican).
Of course, I would expect the average person in Northern Ireland to know more about this than the average Englishman, but why would a Scotsman be better informed than an Englishman who actually had to live through the threat of IRA bombs, which the Scots never suffered from?
Except of course for the Scottish football fans who support Celtic or Rangers, and have adopted Republicans and Loyalists as their respective unofficial mascots for their teams....
“why would a Scotsman be better informed than an Englishman who actually had to live through the threat of IRA bombs, which the Scots never suffered from?”
If you don’t know about the west of scotland culture in which people are killed because of their religion, or for waving the British and/or Irish flag in the wrong area, then you should research it.