A favourite of political radicals is the reinterpretation of historical events to make them fit modern political narratives. Let's look at what two rival political stances interpret from pre-Norman Ireland.
Exactly one century ago Irish socialist James Connolly's Labour in Irish History described native Irish society as pre-capitalist communalism, an egalitarian society with tribal ownership of the land.
Here Connelly is uniting his own socialist beliefs with the anti-English nationalism that was popular at the time. For him, rejection of British rule was one with the rejection of capitalism and private ownership of the land. The egalitarian nature of pre-Norman Ireland was a justification for the creation of a modern socialist, nationalist Ireland.
Odd, then, than in 1973 Murray N. Rothbard's pro-capitalist, anti-state book For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto used pre-Norman Ireland for precisely the opposite reason, as a state-less anarchy of private property and a historical example to bolster support for modern capitalist anarchy.
So which was it: socialist paradise or anarchist Utopia? Either way pre-Norman Irish tribalism failed to defend itself from Norman and English conquest, making it a questionable example for a secure modern society. Advocates of political ideologies who back-fit modern narratives onto ancient historical societies and events might be tinkering with the truth just a bit. Be wary of that.