Preface to the updated edition

This edition has been written as the prospects for more peace in Northern Ireland, and a consequent drop in terrorism, seem bright. The terrorism of the past thirty years, however, is not the culmination of Irish history. Nor has it been the inevitable outcome of government policies or socio-economic conditions. It is a result of generations of romanticising Irish nationalism which, with few exceptions, and in common with nationalism everywhere, has been the passion of idealistic but narrow-minded and limited men and women. The important Irish history of the last part of the twentieth century is how the people of the country have moved away from historical positions and assumptions, have been more interested in making money and enjoying life, have broadened their horizons, and have affirmed democratic principles. Ireland is certainly not ‘the most distressful country’.

People in Northern Ireland have sensed that the violence that has afflicted them has meant that the benefits of membership of the European Union, so clear in the Republic, have passed them by. They sense that a great opportunity of the past fifty years has been denied them.