This paper analyzes a certain class of misalignments found in 
contemporary Irish in the relation between syntactic and phonological 
representations. The mismatches analyzed turn on the phonological 
requirements of focus (Verum Focus in particular) and of ellipsis and on 
how the two sets of requirements interact. It argues that the 
phonological mechanisms of ellipsis can be over-ridden when the 
phonological requirements of F-marking need to be satisfied. The 
analysis requires a theoretical framework in which the post-syntactic 
computation is characterized by parallel and simultaneous optimization. 
In particular, it is argued that certain facets of ellipsis, 
morphophonology, and prosody are computed in parallel, as in classic 
Optimality Theory. The analysis also relies crucially on a kind of head 
movement (from specifier to a commanding head position) whose existence 
is predicted by current conceptions of phrase structure but which seems 
to be little documented.