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Sat 07 Jul 2008Our cultural nationalism and Catholicism are utterly European
Debates about the recognition of Ireland's part in European culture are often tied up with the modernity of the past 40 years, writes Fintan O'Toole.
In an interesting letter to The Irish Times last week, Val Nolan expressed a view that is probably more widely held than it is openly articulated: "Ireland is, at best, only tangentially a part of Europe . . .. We are attached to the same continental shelf, yes, but beyond that we share very little socially, politically, linguistically or culturally with Europe. Twenty-first century Ireland is, and will continue to be, unmistakably part of the Anglo-sphere."
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