As British novelist Zadie Smith once put it – “The past is always tense, the future perfect.” In the case of Ireland, the situation is more complex still given the loss of language and culture, the widespread dispersal of people through mass emigration and the silencing of the Irish-language sources – all of which ensures only a very hazy picture of our past.
At worst, you get a completely “half-baked” history, a constructed or invented history that is worth next to nothing, what Professor Michael Cronin has termed a “half-picture” or a “dual silencing”.
through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”* Nósfaidh an t-am céard a chiallaíonn an chaint bhreá seo.
'Dual Silencing' a thugann an tOllamh Michael Cronin ar an chleachtas seo: *“Firstly, the sources are not heard because they are in the wrong language and secondly, the books on the sources are ignored because they are in the wrong language.