Using and abusing Norman history to illustrate an inclusive Irish identity is not only a severe distortion of reality, but the glossing over of the blood-soaked path to the emergence of Irish Catholic nationhood will ultimately undermine it.

The purpose of the State is to provide the means for the Irish to become Gaels.

Liam Mellows once said that “Blood is thicker than water, and Irish blood is thicker than any blood that I know.” But too few Republicans have taken him at his word.