At home in Ireland, there’s a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

Heaney is pointing to a recognizable cultural posture in Ireland—especially in a society long shaped by colonial administration, church authority, and local hierarchies—where direct confrontation with power is often sidestepped. “Avoidance” suggests a preference for indirectness, silence, or tactical withdrawal rather than open challenge. The “ironical attitude” implies a protective skepticism: authority is met with wit, understatement, or mockery that deflates its claims without necessarily provoking it head-on. In Heaney’s work and commentary, such habits can be double-edged: they preserve dignity and autonomy under pressure, yet they may also inhibit candid speech or decisive political action.