Anti-British Xenophobia and Hatred in Ireland

Neither was I, but what we have today is a result of the past. As for groupthink, we're still a tiny country with a tiny population and until very recently a very homogenous one and we still have the sniff of the parish and parochial thinking and smaller groups of people in charge who all know one another. Even so I'm not seeing the level of groupthink you see. Can you give examples?

Now let's look at the UK. England has fifty million more people than Ireland. Hell Scotland that is like Australia in being mostly empty save for bits around the edges(thank London for that too) has a half million more people than Ireland. Given the population is so much bigger in England you'd expect to see less "groupthink" and a lot more individual thinking, by mere virtue of numbers, but you don't really.

But for the most part, this distrust is aimed at British institutions moreso than British people. Cultural memory tells us that Westminster looks out for English interests only, in the main, that British institutions will put Britain and the crown before everything else. It also tells us that British politicians absolutely cannot be trusted in the promises they make to non-British entities, and if you're not English, you'll get stabbed in the back if necessary to further English interests.

This pretty much. And like you say it's London and the English institutions and authority. This United Kingdom and Great(er) Britain is more a PR sop to the non English and English who aren't in authority and don't toe the line. While it was certainly worse in the past, it's still a very heirarchical society in many ways.

Again because we're a small population in the scheme of things the media, politicos and intelligentsia are also small in number and tend to know each other and churn in the same media pit, so you're more likely to have general agreements. Even so we still have outliers. So SF would have different views than FG as an example. We also have the John Waters types in the mix too who would be very much outliers.

Brexit unconditionally bad

Well, let's face it at the moment it's pretty bloody bad and worse it seems to be getting by the week. Panic buying of petrol and a winter of discontent looming not seen since the 1970's. A perfect storm of pandemic and brexit. It might not be unconditionally bad, but it's certainly conditionally bad.

Immigration unconditionally good

Yep, that's a thing alright, but outside of RTE there are questions being raised and let's not forget when the referendum to close the birthright loophole was held, one of the largest majorities of any Irish referendum voted to close it. Even a recent and slanted poll conducted by the Journal.ie found that while a majority of people wanted to accept more than 250 Afghan refugees into Ireland the same poll found that the same majority didn't want to accept any more than 1000.

Gender identity politics a good thing

More in the media than anything. In the real world, at least outside corporate American companies here it barely registers.

Environmental issues

Well we need to adress them and quickly. It's the how is the thing and that's a confused mess with little enough concrete agreement beyond agreeing we need to do something and that's not just in this country. Not by a long way.

Size of the welfare state

Gievn the grumblings for and agin it I don't see much of the same views at all.

American politics

That's more online than elsewhere, but yes I'd agree that the Irish need to look elsewhere has always had America in playm but that too many these days ape their bullshít over here in a very different(thankfully) society. Not just the Irish right on either. The Irish right wing ape their Yank cousins just as much. For every impressionable Irish eejit waxing about cis gender and intersectionalities, you have another impressionable Irish eejit wittering on about Trump and libertarianism. While both have increasingly mid atlantic accents.