52
Pete Hodson
1996: 181). In the Irish Free State itself, the Gaelic renaissance proved a
useful diversion which served to soothe, if not heal, the bitter fratricidal
legacy of the Civil War. Gaelic revivalism was “a bipartisan cornerstone
of State policy” which strengthened the bonds of civic unity in a contested State (McGarry 2014: 661). Gaelicisation however, was culturally
exclusive and undermined previous efforts to “satisfy, even gratify, their
Protestant minority” (Miller 1978: 135), which had included the allocation of a “sizeable number” (Walker 2012: 48) of Seanad6 seats to ex-Unionists to ensure a Protestant voice in Irish Free State affairs.
Northern Ireland, whilst similarly keen to raise external awareness of
its existence, was constrained from forging a separate identity due to
the dominant concern of anchoring the new State as “authentically British” (Loughlin 1995: 91). Despite funding a costly publicity campaign
that elicited a tourism surge in the province (Loughlin 1995: 103), the
UUP generated an insufficient amount of the desperately desired political awareness regarding the State’s constitutional position. Miller persuasively argues that Northern Ireland’s somewhat ambiguous national
identity constituted “a reluctant, matter-of-fact nationalism, perhaps a
nationalism of despair” which the UUP harnessed to bind the fragile
Protestant community (1978: 154). Like the Gael culture in the South,
the predictably Orange hue of Ulster nationalism alienated the religious
minority – though the size of the Catholic minority, the institutionalisation of their political exclusion, and their far less favourable socio-economic position sharpened grievances to a greater extent (Farrell 1980:
81).
Economics
Economic anxiety plagued both States during their fledgling years. The
Anglo-Irish and Civil Wars had been fought at an immense financial (as
6
The Upper House of the Oireachtas.