What makes someone Irish?

Inspired by some of the threads floating about; I was pondering on the nature of identity. It saddens me to see, on occasion, people dismissing others as not Irish because of their religion, their ancestry, where they live and what politics they gravitate towards. I have found it bemusing when a particular politically charged post might accuse a fellow Irish person of being British or self loathing because they might not buy into a particular brand of politics in Ireland.

Or even an accuastion of not only being self loathing but possibly anti-Irish for similar reasons. Because someone may not agree with or follow the prevailing ideologies. Is it not, in a way, equally anti-Irish to be slating and denigrating fellow Irish people because they are not of a particular political persuasion?

That's the political stuff out of the way. There's a side I love about being Irish and it's that you may not have been born of the stony grey soil, you may not be of a faith, or of another, or your parents came from elsewhere, or you're a few generations out of the aul' sod - but still, by and large, you will be welcomed. Not always, granted. There's all the ugly stuff that's been covered elsewhere and then there's the "plastic" tag which is quite tired and insulting at this stage. If someone wants to be Irish, identifies with the country and the people, the culture etc - why not?

There's no one form of Irishness, is there? There's a rainbow of Irishness, a myriad of different peoples with different outlooks and traditions but all united by Ireland.

Apologies for the spiel, just read one genre of thread too many