"Lots of Irish think of themselves as British."
You know that - o course ?
Not in my part of Ireland they don't - can't think of one
Those who do, do so because their Britishness was either forced upon them 100 years ago as a "temporary measure" to gain a peace that was never fulfilled, or to dominate in a deliberately created sectarian Protestant State
The most artificial thing you could possibly do is draw a line across a country and call part of it it somewhere else - it robs people of their national, cultural and historical identity and is guaranteed to creat a permanent industry of body-bag manufacture
I'm afraid Frank Harte's words are being borne out by your own display of both British arrogance and a lack of knowledge of the Irish people, who they actually are and who you appear to wish them to be.
Jim