The Kilt's use in Irish Nationalism

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

During the period of the Gaelic revival, War of Independence, and early republican era, some people wore kilts (emphasis added- MoR).

Yes, some people wore kilts, but very few given the population of Ireland (less than 5 million) in the time frame you've outlined. In fact, I'd suggest that all of the kilt wearers in Ireland could have sat down to dinner at Gresham's Hotel in Dublin and still left room for a bus load of tourists in the dining room.

After civilian kilt wear declined (emphasis added by MoR) in Ireland, it seems to have gained strength in the diaspora, who have now sustained it to the point of becoming established as a tradition.

I'm not sure that civilian kilt wear in Ireland can be fairly described as having declined, given that only a miniscule percentage of the civilian population wore the kilt in the first place. If one looks at the period 1900-1939 I think one would be hard pressed to find any evidence to suggest even 1/10th of 1% of the Irish population went about kilted.

Rather than being a tradition sustained by the diaspora, it more than likely seems to be an attempt by some in the diaspora to create a national costume and, at that, an attempt that really only started to pick up steam with the proliferation of "Irish tartans" and "Irish kilts" and "Irish kilt jackets" in the 1990s.

It was the widely held view of those in the Department of Art, Heritage, the Gaeltacht, and the Islands that the creation of a "national costume" where none existed was a direct result of some of the Irish diaspora feeling threatened with a loss of cultural identity as the United States and other countries became more homogenized societies, caused, no doubt, as result of a rise in political correctness. Far from being an established tradition, a more apt analysis might suggest that for some in the diaspora the Irish kilt is like the security blanket carried around by Linus in the Peanuts comic strip.