Am I Irish?

losthorizon wrote: »

I hate when people equate Catholic with Irishness. Not the same thing at all at all. It shouldnt even be mentioned in the debate IMO.

Ben Hadad wrote: »

there is no more Irish trait than racism.

oranje wrote: »

Really interesting thread. I have to agree with other posters that equating Catholicism with Irishness is way off the mark. It is perfectly possible to be100% Irish and Protestant and indeed Unionist. The only reason that the Catholic = Irish equation gained any traction is partition.

My father was brought up as an Irish person in England. In Manchester, where he grew up, it is normal to be ethnically Irish. The only people who seem to have any issues with accepting that people like the OP are Irish (if they choose to self-identify as such) are people living in Ireland. In my experience Irish people often associate nationality with accent. If you have an English accent it is hard for people to get over the idea that you are not English.

The irony of course is that Irish people abandoned their own language en masse in the nineteenth century and effectively chose to become more culturally British as a result. An Irish person can live a life that looks like a clone of his British counterpart's. There are some specifically Irish elements of life like the GAA or Orange parades but a look at the Irish Independent website on any give day will show you that what happens across the water is very important to Irish people.

My own children are half-Polish and half-Irish growing up in Holland. My experience is that it is very difficult to impart any Irish culture to your children outside of Ireland. Things like the GAA and the Irish language have no real support network abroad. Of course you can pass on the English language, which I do. I read them books written in English by American, British, Australian, Irish people etc. English language TV is largely produced in the UK or the US. Where my children interact with English it is not in a specifically Irish context but a global English one.

On the other hand my wife's Polish culture is much easier to transfer with the advantage of having a proprietary language. Polish television has countless autonomous output. Poland has its own music industry, literature, fashion, food, traditions. It is almost almost impossible for a half-Polish kid to be at least partly Polish but a kid with two Irish parents growing up abroad can lose every tie to Ireland very easily. In my own family some of those who grew up in England maintained Irishness but others only identify themselves as being British.

My children would regard themselves as Dutch first and Polish second. Being Irish is a very vague idea for them now. They know I speak English but that I am not English but what does being Irish actually mean? It is a lost easier to understand what being Polish means when you are seven years of age.