It is harder to split Irish republicanism from nationalism than it is to believe (as only an Irishman would) in the existence of ‘British nationalism’. The constitutional and cultural muddle of English, Welsh, Scottish and Cornish Britishness lies behind the assertive front of unionism. It is as though Seamus Deane wants to deny the evolved legitimacy of the 26-county state and the varieties of Irishness within it.
