It is said I make a very damaging statement about a citizen of a North Atlantic republic (9)
I believe the answer is:
icelander
'it is said i make a very damaging statement about a citizen of a north' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'atlantic republic' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'atlantic republic' could be 'iceland' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'iceland' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'er' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for icelander that I've seen before include "northerner" , "Reykjavik native?" , "someone from Reykjavik, probably" , "National" , "Kind of European" .)