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Like many of his nationalist contemporaries, the Irish separatist P. S. O'Hegarty (1879-1952) viewed Ulster Unionist resistance to assimilation into a united self-governing Irish nation as the outcome of British policy and politicking in Ireland. In constructing an ethnic and political tie with the Protestant population of north-east Ulster from the 1801 Act of Union, subsequent British governments cultivated a 'false consciousness' among Ulster Unionists to further their political and economic self-interests. This article examines the deficiencies in O'Hegarty's arguments against partition but its main purpose is to highlight that, contrary to his conventional image as a doctrinal nationalist, O'Hegarty's 'Irishness' consisted of a liberal and civic concept of citizenship. It concludes that O'Hegarty's view of nationalism was pluralistic, inclusive and ahead of its time during a period when ethnicity was perceived as a non-negotiable determinant of national identity.