This paper discusses the relationship between national identity and the so-called "marginal" areas of Irish television, i.e., advertisements, continuity announcements, and promotional trailers. The following issues are considered: (1) how these "spaces" between television programs compare in terms of use and influence to parliamentary politics, and to nuclear power; (2) the marked differences of these "marginal" areas between programs on Irish television and their British counterparts; and (3) prime time commercials made in Ireland and devoted to the products and services of Irish companies and organizations, or of subsidiaries of foreign companies in Ireland, and how they converge in theme, structure, and convention with party political broadcasts at election time (three nation-building prime time slot commercials are used as illustrations). It is concluded that the discourses in these commercials mobilize an ideological construct of "The Nation" and "national identity," both as a goal and as the means of attaining it; television no longer simply reports elections--it makes elections; and the dominant political version of "national identity" becomes as much a question of trust as the continuity announcement's message, i.e., keep tuned to this station and things are bound to turn out well. (24 references) (CGD)