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A Modest Proposal, by Pat Coyne
Humpty Dumpty was an Irishman. 'When I use a word it means exactly what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' The question is simply 'which is to be master, that's all.'
'Irish' was clearly one of the words he had in mind. The naive might imagine it simply means pertaining to the island of Ireland and its inhabitants, all of them. But mastery over the word has long been claimed by nationalism - a claim largely conceded since 1916. Its definition is much more charged, historically and politically, positive and negative.
What it is not is British more particularly English; no taint of the Anglo must ever be seen to have attached itself to the word. What it is is a little more complex. Take the unexpurgated version, courtesy of the Catholic Bulletin of 1924:
'The Irish nation is the Gaelic nation; its language and literature is the Gaelic language; its history is the history of the Gael. All other elements have no place in Irish national life, literature and tradition, save as they are assimilated into the very substance of Gaelic speech, life and thought.'
Liberal and inclusive it isn't. Indeed, few in the Republic now would sign up for every jot and tittle; many might claim to reject at least some of it. But nobody could deny that it is without resonance, even in a modern, European-minded Ireland. Cultural and ideological atavism still reigns almost unchallenged. Only that which is authentic, native, partisan, can be considered properly Irish. Sinn Fein, after all, means
'ourselves alone.'
It's a trap which stunts the Irish imagination and at its worst, with its monocultural insistence on 'assimilation', helps to justify, even stimulate, the periodic recrudescence of violence. And it's a trap from which, of all people, Ulster Unionists may be able to help them escape, and in doing so begin to free themselves from some of their own mental straight-jackets. Even a cursory deconstruction of the claims for 'Irish' culture reveals a complex picture. Firstly, it is by no means clear that that Ireland has any exclusive claims even over Gaelic. There are more native speakers of the language in Scotland, the majority of whom, as it happens, are Protestants.
Or again, take literature. Any agreed list of great Irish writers would include (I omit
(Continued on page 30)
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