Researcher Ian d’Alton and lecturer Ida Milne have written a book entitled Protestant and Irish: The Minority’s Search for Place in Independent Ireland, that seeks to dispel some of the myths around the role Protestants played in Irish society post-independence.

The writers told the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross that since Irish independence, Protestants have perfected the art of “invisibility” as a strategy for survival.

However, they say, this conversation is now an important one to have in the context of Brexit.

“This book can encourage the development of conversation around the participation of Protestants in society,” Ida Milne said.

She added that one of the common misconceptions is that Protestants do not play GAA, and this is one of the things she tackles in her chapters in the book.

There are also two chapters dedicated to farm politics. Felix M Larkin takes a look at how the “outsider status” of Protestants, despite the fact that their families had been in Ireland for hundreds of years, was brought into focus by cartoons around the time of Irish independence.

The book, published by Cork University Press in March this year, is available for €39 on the CUP website (www.corkuniversitypress.com) and will shortly be available in paperback.