Towards the Gaelstát

Our vision for Ireland

Those of us who are nationalists understand what it is that we are fighting for without need for explanation, but the commitment to the intangible goals of Irish nationalism is not inherent to everyone - for a lot of people, quite possibly the majority of people, our views seem irrational. Irrational because, as nature intended, they cannot see into our hearts, and nobody has taken the time to explain what exactly it is that we believe. 

To distill our beliefs, one must appreciate that most people do not have time to read the great bulk (or any, even) of Irish nationalist texts, that their only interaction with Irish nationalism may have been peripheral, through a handful of years at school if they are lucky, or possibly having never encountered nationalism directly.

Nationalism is not a theoretical concept, it is the spiritual-made-flesh, but it’s not something that can be pointed at, weighed, or divided into units. One may never be able to truly explain why we are nationalists, but we ought to be able to explain what it is we hope to achieve by being nationalists. 

Irish nationalism has better writers and speakers than we, men who throughout history have stood for the central truth of the Irish nation, men whose writings we should all become accustomed to if we are not already, so we are by no means expecting this to be a definitive article.

For many people nationalism has become antiquated - afterall, we live today in an era where (ostensibly) four-fifths of the island of Ireland is sovereign, and has been ruled by ‘Irishmen’ for a century - from whom then is it that we wish to seize Irish sovereignty? 

There is the outstanding issue of Partition but the capitulation of the Provisional movement and the binding to liberal democracy of the Irish aspiration for unity has made it a parked question - once a majority agrees to unify, unity shall happen (or so we are told), so why rush it or force a (gerrymandered) majority into unity with the 'Republic'? 

When trying to explain as D. P. Moran did, that political or territorial unity is of secondary civilisational importance as cultural unity, one can quite easily make the mistake to seem apathetic or indifferent to the existence of the illegitimate Northern Statelet - we must make clear that no man can consider himself an  Irish nationalist who does not consider the existence of the Border a primary evil that must be destroyed to fulfill Irish nationhood.

But the eradication of that border is not the silver bullet - one can make the mistaken decision to abandon all the trappings of nationalism, all its iconography and moral strength, in pursuit of territorial unity between the two jurisdictions, as Sinn Féin have done. By abandoning the assertion of demographic destiny, by shaking hands with the Queen, and talking vapidly about ‘inclusivity’ or a #NewIreland those who would call themselves Irish nationalists have been waylaid, their energies directed into the upholding of the northern State’s existence rather than its overthrow.

Should Sinn Féin, or other ‘constitutional patriots’ succeed in their aim in attaching the Six to the Twenty Six, would we become any closer to restoring the Irish language, or of breaking the connection to the English legal system? Would the million foreigners in the South disappear? Would the million Planters in the North transmogrify into Gaels? Would the historic wrongs of the British establishment be undone? 

The glories of men like Eoghan Ruadh, or Domhnaill Ó Suilleabháin Béarra be remembered? If we could but slam together the civil services of the northern and southern jurisdictions, would these bodies promote a healthy society? No, in order to fulfil our national destiny, we require not simply political unity, but cultural unity. 

Finding a new conceptualisation of Irish nationalism, to take the immortal truth and explain how it fits into the modern era, is the challenge facing us - to do so in a way that explains our rationale that makes sense to our people who have spent the last seven decades living under the yolk of liberalism, first by Whitaker’s economics and later by Dalkey socialites, and suffered the Long March of the traitors through the State and media.

The Nine Years War fought to secure Ulster and re-establish political Gaeldom in the south, the United Irishmen sought to unite sectarian divisions, the revolutionaries of 1919 sought to establish the Republic, the Republican Movement sought to create a Federal Ireland based on communities. The modern Nationalist Movement must propose how it will change how Ireland is governed, how wealth is generated and distributed, how her pride can be restored.

That conceptualisation is the Gaelstát - the National State. The Gaelstát will be the rallying cry of the Irish nationalist, its establishment is not contingent upon electoral success but will exist as fact in the hearts and minds of its adherents from this day forth, and we must work to bring it about in the material world. It will be the thankless toil of years and decades, all the monotonous work in establishing a lasting community, no imminent glory or success other than the success of putting one step in front of the other. 

To achieve the Gaelstát we must secure cultural, economic and political power. We must establish businesses, we must establish media, we must establish social networks and cultural organisations, we must restore the use of the Irish language amongst ourselves so that we may restore its use at the national level. 

We must establish morality amongst our people, to encourage productive labour and financial prudence, we must become the embodiment of the Gaelic ideals, to look well, to dress well, to be healthy and strong and sociable. The Ardgael must be resolute and cunning, to set a sight and achieve it, to overcome obstacles and rivals with great fury. We must be ambitious.

The Gaelstát, as we explain it to others, must put as its primary objective the restoration of the Gael to dominion over the land. We mean the term Gael to be exclusively ethno-linguistic - the foreigner who speaks Irish is not Gaelic, nor the Irishman that apes foreigners or watches the Diamond Jubilee. The Gael is the Irishman who speaks Irish, who plays Irish music and sports, who bears a love for his nation and homeland. 

The Gaelstát is bound to the existence of the Irish, moreso than just the geography of Ireland alone. The Irish in America must be considered of the Gaelstát, the Irish in Australia, or Germany, or Canada, must be considered of the Gaelstát. 

The Gaelstát and its adherents must endeavour to restore the Irish language, to restore the unity of Ireland and the sovereignty of Ireland to the Irish race, to produce wealth within our race - wealth in material terms, wealth in spiritual terms, wealth in cultural terms. We believe in centralised power and legitimate authority, in living productive lives as members of our race.

We believe in the Gaelstát and shall henceforth do all we can to establish it as reality.

Beirigí bua!

Reproduced by permssion of Comhaltas na nGaedheal, you can find them here:

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