I'm currently reading R.F. Foster's Modern Ireland, 1600-1972, which is supposedly one of the primary texts of the revisionist school of Irish history. The book was originally published in 1989 and I was wondering if historians have since developed a coherent counter-argument to the revisionist school. If so, what are some of the major authors that you would recommend?
Within academic history there has been a good deal of progress. The methodology is settled and this led Foster to declare "we are all revisionists now" in 1986, (The Irish Review). There has been some pushback against the more radical revisionist claims (see JJ lee on 1916 in Ireland Politics and Society 1911-1986).
One of the most controversial areas is the Irish Revolution. The late Peter Hart produced radical claims about the conduct of the IRA in Cork. This has produced a vicious backlash in the public arena including some attempts to discredit Hart personally. Most professional historians I know despise this even if they think Hart was wrong.
There is also a body of historians, myself included, who found the revisionist debate frustrating and shifted into social and cultural history