I think you're right, that's why I use the term "identity" apart from "culture." I see that when people stop actively identifying is Irish, then yes, Ireland is

I think you're right, that's why I use the term "identity" apart from "culture." I see that when people stop actively identifying is Irish, then yes, Ireland isn't Ireland. My point is precisely to say that "Ireland" is still Ireland insofar as the Irish still identify with their land and their history. Yes, these are all social constructs, but there is a line of reasoning. If the Irish started identifying as EU citizens, then yea, it could die, but it's obviously not dead. This, of course, happens all the time, it's just that nobody really notices because no one is usually speaking for the old, often reprehensible (hence the cultural death) culture. Cultural evolution is evolution. It usually lives on in some form or another, and only occasionally goes extinct.