Simpering solipsisms about exclusion and inequality might lubricate agreeable fictions into a national myth, but that myth does not long survive the stark realities of north central Dublin. Moreover, exclusion has been central to the national discourse, firstly in the word that Ireland has given the world’s languages, boycott, while Irish republican vernacular is rich in verbal disdain: shoneen, tout, Free Stater, west Brit, Castle Catholic, Blueshirt, Prod.
The names Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, reflecting deep ancestral differences, are unique in Europe. It’s not just that the two tribes don’t marry one another, they’d be barely capable of having sex together unless there was a third party in the bed, hence the current government. Even today, a working-class Dubliner would rather become an anaesthesia-free eye-donor than vote Fine Gael. “Not something” is usually the opening statement of any Irish identity.
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