From "A New History of Ireland," edited by Moody, Martin & Byrne, vol 3, ISBN 0-19-821739-0, 1976, p 10: The districts from Youghal to Cork harbour and on the western shore of the latter were in the hands of the elder Desmond line, but much land was held by independent Old English lords. The Courceys still [in 1534] used the title of Lord Courcey; the alleged viscountancies claimed by the Roches (Viscount Fermoy) and the Barrys (Viscount Buttevant) had no legal basis, though they came to be recognized by the crown. Barrys and Roches, like other great Old English families in County Cork, were highly gaelicised, employing brehons and patronising bardic poetry. [There was a Book of Fermoy written for the Roche family in the 15th & 16th centuries.]

From "A New History of Ireland," edited by Moody, Martin & Byrne, vol 3, ISBN 0-19-821739-0, 1976, p 509:
In a well-known account of the state of Ireland about 1515, the complaint was made that, in addition to the Irish chiefs who were not subject to the rule of the king of England, there were more than 30 great captains of the English folk that followed the same Irish order. [S.P. Hen VIII, ii, 6-8]. These included the earl of Desmond, Lord Barry, Lord Roche, the Powers of Waterford, Sir Piers Butler, and all the captains of the Butlers of the county of Kilkenny and of the county of Fethard, the two Lords Burke of Connacht, and many others. There were large areas of the country that did not obey the English king's laws, and had neither justices nor sheriffs under the king, and all the English folk there were of Irish habit [wore Irish clothing], of Irish language, and of Irish conditions except in the cities and walled towns.