Highlighted part of your quoted text is incorrect, not all Protestants in the Republic Of Ireland are West Brits. I’m not even sure if you could say a majority are. Of my Protestant friends and acquaintances in the Republic Of Ireland, I’d say one conforms to that stereotype absolutely, hailing from South Dublin, posh as can be and with a healthy disdain for Gaelic Football, the Irish language etc. The rest of them not so much, in fact one is a fairly fervent republican. The only reason I know most of them are Protestant is because they told me, otherwise I would have had to throw holy water over them to check.
Interesting article on the views of young loyalists: Belfast: 'It's not just the flag. They want to take everything British away' | Belfast | The Guardian
Thanks for that. Note how British identity, “Britishness” appears in quote after quote.
Rent-or-download The Commitments. The ending will tell you all you need to know about Irish history. 
BrainGlutton, with all due respect, what has your post go to do with the rest of this thread?
Everything.