What does it mean (to you) to be irish?

DrumSteve

I recently heard an talk about this on newstalk106 and it really got me thinking what exactly it means to be irish...

When i first heard the question the first thing that came to mind was,to paraphrase tommy tiernan,"it means we're not ****ing english!"

but does it? i mean im a liverpool fan(i know i know...).Everyday on my way to college i see people read english newspapers.Before i leave for college there is a good chance ill have probably watched something on BBC or Sky news. On the radio on my way to college is probably music by an english artist and an irish DJ doing his best impression of an English DJ. The signposts for all the roads on my way to college are all in english (and for some reason the irish is in italics ... dont get that).when i get home from college i definitely wont watch the x factor but i know a,lot of people will those are just some examples.

(Another thing i dont understand are those people who have an ultra republican brits out attitude but will be seen down the pub on a saturday or sunday afternoon screaming for man united or liverpool or whatever...just a thought. Whats suddenly so different about stevie g or wayne rooney when they stick on an england jersey...)

But the same can be said for american influence on the country. I really think america has always been a friend to his country economically but culturally it has halved our IQ. I mean most of the people who hang around the bank in temple bar(you know the ones) will without a second thought make you deaf with their astounding critique of american foreign policy and why they are basically a shower of ***** and how their conglomerates are ruining the world(i dont dispute that). But they'll do this while wearing their converse(made by nike) or their vans, with their hoody or bandtop usually featuring an american band.

How many people today had their lunch or dinner in burger king or mcdonalds?How many people last night went to the cinema to see a film which was made in america? how many people watch friends,CSI,the simpsons,family guy...? How many people use coloquialisms directly ripped frm america?(so cool,eh?). Yes Bush,Cheney et al are bastards but they are only as mad as the people they are fighting against.

I guess to me to be irish is not comely maidens dancing at the crossroads.It not drinking my brains out and coming home and kicking the **** outta my family and its not letting the church rule every part of my life(though thats not so culturally relevant now).

To me being irish is being proud of my land and the achievments of its people. It means being proud of the irish language and wishing i could speak it fluently(its far more eloquent than english). It means being proud of our arts and our customs and not changing them for anyone. It means being proud of our ancestors fighting in every major war of the twentieth century and fighting with courage and valour (my grandparents and other relatives fought in burma and were part of the desert rats in africa). I dont care that they fought for the english. They fought for what they felt was right.

Im proud to be irish. I can hold my head high whenever i leave this country knowing that we've never invaded,enslaved,nuked,raped,gased,pillaged,exterminated or tried to commit genocide against any other country or race on this earth...
Thats not to say this place doesnt have its faults( i wouldnt trust this goverment with a corner shop nevermind a counrty and some of the do gooders do my ****in head in along with most of the people they apologize for...)

I am irish and i love ireland.

So i welcome everyone who wants to come to this country. They can only add to it.

So I ask...

What does it mean to you to be irish?

Goldenquick

Nice thread DrumSteve, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out .

DrumSteve wrote:

(Another thing i dont understand are those people who have an ultra republican brits out attitude but will be seen down the pub on a saturday or sunday afternoon screaming for man united or liverpool or whatever...just a thought. Whats suddenly so different about stevie g or wayne rooney when they stick on an england jersey...)

That made me laugh lol.

I love being Irish because I know that we are generally loved all over the world, we have a quirky sense of humour, droll some would call it, ironic in some cases. I've only been on this board a few days but already I've found myself laughing out loud at the humour in nearly all of the posts.

I did live in England and loved it but we decided to come back here as we thought it a better place to bring up our kids, that's not to say I don't miss England, I do - a lot, as everything there was more convenient for us but sometimes you have to exchange one thing for another and our kids safety is paramount and always will be.

My parents were/are Irish, their parents were Irish, etc, etc, we go back a long way and I'm proud of that, I'm Guaranteed Irish

I've recently started doing genealogy and it's amazing some of the things I've learnt about my ancestors, I often try to put myself in their shoes and feel very emotional actually when I think of all they went through, I don't mean that in any political sense either, but the poverty that was in Ireland right up to my parents' time and yet they just took it as it came and never complained whereas today we're so materialistic and can't do without this or that, oh hey I'm going off thread here so better stop lol.

Apart from all politicians, I wouldn't trust any of them with a barge pole and I mean any of them, they're all the same, scoring points of each other, when one is asked something about a certain law, they can't keep to the subject, they have to first go on about the party that brought it in, then they still can't answer what an interviewer is asking them, I guess they're trained not to answer something outright, so I have to say I'm very apathetic where politics is concerned.

Other than that, yes I love Ireland

moe_sizlak

those republicans someone referred to earlier who wear celtic jerseys 24 - 7 and shout britts out in there sleep but at the same time are down the local every weekend with the telly tuned to sky sports watching liverpool or chelsea

yeah those , there called NAFF NATIONALISTS

Fratton Fred

DrumSteve wrote: »

When i first heard the question the first thing that came to mind was,to paraphrase tommy tiernan,"it means we're not ****ing english!"

that says an awful lot about Ireland, but it seems these days (Rugby aside) competing with England is not the be all and end all of Irish life.

DrumSteve wrote: »

To me being irish is being proud of my land and the achievments of its people. It means being proud of the irish language and wishing i could speak it fluently(its far more eloquent than english). It means being proud of our arts and our customs and not changing them for anyone. It means being proud of our ancestors fighting in every major war of the twentieth century and fighting with courage and valour (my grandparents and other relatives fought in burma and were part of the desert rats in africa). I dont care that they fought for the english. They fought for what they felt was right.

excellent (and very true) reasons to be proud to be Irish.

Being proud to be any nationality should have nothing to do with any other country, or their right to be proud of their nationality

lostexpectation

a pure lucky chance

Erin Go Brath

People should be proud of whatever nation they come from.

I'm proud to be Irish because of the cultural achievements of its people past and present. I'm proud of our language, sports, music, literature, and sad history of fighting for independence, suffering famines, mass emigration etc which the country has come through and is stronger than ever now.

My favourite thing about being Irish is standing in Croke Park on All-Ireland Hurling Final day while Amhrán na bhFiann is being played, and singing it passionately. To think hurling, this amazing game is unique to Ireland, and has been played here for thousands of years, long before Christianity and recorded history. Thats something to be proud of.

Modern Ireland has its flaws, but I'm glad people from far away shores want to come and make a life for themselves here. I think the majority of people make them welcome. They will add diversity to our country, and help it to grow and prosper with the skills they bring in.

CerebralCortex

For me never having fit in and having no place to fit in. Truly a very narrow country culturally. But you'll get that with a small population.
Its sad but I find it hard to find anything to make me truly proud of being Irish except its my home and as a nation we are beginning to mature.

LordSutch

From an Irish Unionist point of view .....................

Please dont heap piles of abuse on me, but there is 'needless to say' another type of Irishness altogether, which includes cheering for England in the Rugby (when England play France or the Bok's) which includes wearing a PoppY on Remembrance Sunday, which includes not following Gaelic Games, which includes not being a huge supporter of the Tricolour! however ~ I dont dislike the Tricolour, but I prefer the Union Flag (one third if which represents us Irish Unionists) I feel just at home in England or Wales as I do here, I feel a kindrid friendship between the peoples of the british isles (geographical term).

I am not English ~ I am Irish & British (part of the broader family) & I love Ireland too.

Hope this contributes something positive to the debate.

ScottishDanny

who wear celtic jerseys 24 - 7 and shout britts out in there sleep but at the same time are down the local every weekend with the telly tuned to sky sports watching liverpool or chelsea

Shows what you know about football. Celtic fans are unlikely to support Chelsea, as Chelsea skinheads have an alliance with Rangers hooligans with the original name 'The Blues Brothers' with a common bond of BNP/Loyalist support.

FTR I'm not saying this is true of ALL Rangers/Chelsea fans.

CerebralCortex

ArthurF wrote: »

From an Irish Unionist point of view .....................

Please dont heap piles of abuse on me, but there is 'needless to say' another type of Irishness altogether, which includes cheering for England in the Rugby (when England play France or the Bok's) which includes wearing a PoppY on Remembrance Sunday, which includes not following Gaelic Games, which includes not being a huge supporter of the Tricolour! however ~ I dont dislike the Tricolour, but I prefer the Union Flag (one third if which represents us Irish Unionists) I feel just at home in England or Wales as I do here, I feel a kindrid friendship between the peoples of the british isles (geographical term).

I am not English ~ I am Irish & British (part of the broader family) & I love Ireland too.

Hope this contributes something positive to the debate.

So thats what it means to be a unionist?

Fratton Fred

ScottishDanny wrote: »

Shows what you know about football. Celtic fans are unlikely to support Chelsea, as Chelsea skinheads have an alliance with Rangers hooligans with the original name 'The Blues Brothers' with a common bond of BNP/Loyalist support.

FTR I'm not saying this is true of ALL Rangers/Chelsea fans.

shows what you know, Chelsea fans all now wear Prada shoes and fur coats:D

DrumSteve

ScottishDanny wrote: »

Shows what you know about football. Celtic fans are unlikely to support Chelsea, as Chelsea skinheads have an alliance with Rangers hooligans with the original name 'The Blues Brothers' with a common bond of BNP/Loyalist support.

FTR I'm not saying this is true of ALL Rangers/Chelsea fans.

em read my post again i never mentioned chelsea. and i do know a fair bit about football.
also im speaking from an irish point of view.

El Stuntman

DrumSteve wrote: »

Im proud to be irish. I can hold my head high whenever i leave this country knowing that we've never invaded,enslaved,nuked,raped,gased,pillaged,exterminated or tried to commit genocide against any other country or race on this earth...

not to burst your bubble but we did provide a large proportion of the British Imperial forces for a long, long time

Sleepy

ArthurF wrote: »

I prefer the Union Flag (one third if which represents us Irish Unionists)

Nice to see a different view but doesn't one third of the tricolour represent Irish Unionists too?

Personally, being Irish means little more than being lucky to me. I could have been born in far worse places, I live a relatively comfortable life and the passport is bloody useful for international travel.

Of course I'll cheer on an Irish team out of a sense of tribe but I recognise it for what it is and I'll never be considered a patriotic person. We got five numbers in the lottery of birth, it's neither something to be proud nor something to be ashamed of.

Mr.Micro

DrumSteve wrote: »

I recently heard an talk about
Im proud to be irish. I can hold my head high whenever i leave this country knowing that we've never invaded,enslaved,nuked,raped,gased,pillaged,exterminated or tried to commit genocide against any other country or race on this earth...

there was murder ,mayhem ,robbery bombings etc done in our name for many years in NI and the UK .Many of these individuals still live in Ireland.

LordSutch

Sleepy wrote: »

Nice to see a different view but doesn't one third of the tricolour represent Irish Unionists too?

The Tricolour is a 'Nationalist Aspirational flag' in that it wants there to be a Union between Unionist & Nationalist whilst there being no reference to the other adjoining countries of these islands, and that is its weakness (from an Irish/Unionist perspective)!

The Union Flag on the other hand joins St Patrick ~ St George ~ St Andrew all in the one flag, and that is where my allegiance is (to the Union) but in an Irish context (Wales is a Principality).

Complicated I know, but I am still 'Irish'.

gurramok

DrumSteve wrote: »

but does it? i mean im a liverpool fan(i know i know...).Everyday on my way to college i see people read english newspapers.Before i leave for college there is a good chance ill have probably watched something on BBC or Sky news. On the radio on my way to college is probably music by an english artist and an irish DJ doing his best impression of an English DJ. The signposts for all the roads on my way to college are all in english (and for some reason the irish is in italics ... dont get that).when i get home from college i definitely wont watch the x factor but i know a,lot of people will those are just some examples.

(Another thing i dont understand are those people who have an ultra republican brits out attitude but will be seen down the pub on a saturday or sunday afternoon screaming for man united or liverpool or whatever...just a thought. Whats suddenly so different about stevie g or wayne rooney when they stick on an england jersey...)

On the football thing, it gets on my wick how people think your a hypocrite for 'supporting an English football club, not supporting the English national team while being nationalistic Irish'

If you support an English football team, that means you support the club which consists of dozens of nationalities and supported worldwide by millions of non-English people as the 'best club'.
This is entirely different than supporting/not supporting the English national team which represents the English nation in culture & customs AND consists of the same players who would be in your English club team.

Everyone get it now?..:D

Its good that we have BBC/Sky as it helps educate us on British customs and way of life as well as better news sources, same as if it was an English speaking German based channel!

I'm proud to be Irish, love my accent and way of life and would fit into the Irish nationalist category.

I too support an English club team and love listening to English music and watching English tv as well as speaking English language(we know this part not out of choice but its still a good language to speak).
It don't make me any less Irish while engaging in the above, if anyone thinks so, they have a chip on their shoulder and need to expand their horizons imho!

murphaph

ArthurF wrote: »

The Tricolour is a 'Nationalist Aspirational flag' in that it wants there to be a Union between Unionist & Nationalist whilst there being no reference to the other adjoining countries of these islands, and that is its weakness (from an Irish/Unionist perspective)!

The Union Flag on the other hand joins St Patrick ~ St George ~ St Andrew all in the one flag, and that is where my allegiance is (to the Union) but in an Irish context (Wales is a Principality).

Complicated I know, but I am still 'Irish'.

You don't have to put Irish in inverted commas Arthur. It is perfectly possible for anyone who feels the (time immemorial long) links between Britain and Ireland run deep to be both british and irish at the same time.

IMO the campaign in NI by militant republicans has driven a deep wedge between the british people up there and the rest of the people of this island and now they refer to themselves almost exclusively as british ulstermen and rarely as british irishmen, which to me is quite sad.

There are still many thousands of british people born and bred in the south. The one thing we should be thankful for is that the relations between our countries are at an all time high.

I don't believe the tricolour represents me and I'm not of british stock afaik. It represents catholicism and protestantism does ot not? Not nationalism and unionism. I have never felt an affinity to organised religion of any sort. I'm afraid also that the flag is tainted (like many others) through its use by terrorists down the years. It is HATED by many northern unionists for this reason.

We have coser ties to the UK than any other nation on earth. We always will. Look at people's names, both here and over there. We have been travelling to and fro for so long. We are immersed in british culture and an irish accent will always do well in Britain. We are as much a fixture in british culture as they are in ours. Such legends of british media as Eamon Andrews and Terry Wogan.

My mum spent many years in England, was partly educated there as was not unusual for large familes here. Two of my aunts stayed there and married englishmen. A number of my cousins have dual nationality. All quite normal. The british government however should extend the right to a british passport to any irish person who feels british as you do, as we do for northern irish nationalists who feel irish.

A great and complex history. I'm glad i'm irish. Most of the time it is a well received nationality. It's definitely not a disadvantage.

SligoBrewer

I'm only 16 so here's what it means for me.:)


It means that I'm lucky, I could be born in a million places worse than here but it could be better.

As a country, we are run by fools, elected by fools.

I feel no allegiance to here, and tbh, I'm not proud to be Irish when I see people try to hard to be anti-british.

The celtic thing in particular baffles me. I HATE CELTIC. They are a british club, who play in britain, but are supported by irish 'nationalists' and i like to see them get beaten to be pretty honest.

murphaph

SligoBrewer wrote: »

I'm only 16 so here's what it means for me.:)


It means that I'm lucky, I could be born in a million places worse than here but it could be better.

As a country, we are run by fools, elected by fools.

I feel no allegiance to here, and tbh, I'm not proud to be Irish when I see people try to hard to be anti-british.

The celtic thing in particular baffles me. I HATE CELTIC. They are a british club, who play in britain, but are supported by irish 'nationalists' and i like to see them get beaten to be pretty honest.

Good post. A people get the government they deserve, so indeed it doesn't say much about us that we are run by such a bunch of amateurs. The Celtic thing baffles me too. The league they play in is a load of sh!t too. 2 half decent teams and a load of dross around them.

DrumSteve

El Stuntman wrote: »

not to burst your bubble but we did provide a large proportion of the British Imperial forces for a long, long time

i know this as i said i said i have relatives who fought for them.
and to that other comment they were not done by the republic but by dissident republicans after over 800 years of illegal occupation.

Flex

DrumSteve wrote: »

i know this as i said i said i have relatives who fought for them.
and to that other comment they were not done by the republic but by dissident republicans after over 800 years of illegal occupation.

Oh man, the West-Brits are gonna jump down your throat for that one

murphaph

Flex wrote: »

Oh man, the West-Brits are gonna jump down your throat for that one

Is this an example of the all inclusive republican utopia we're supposed to live in? Thank god for immigration. It has shattered this one dimensional little place if nothing else.

There are west-brits. Nothing wrong with them. They built most of the nice bits of Dublin. It's ok again to say "Britain is ok". The Holy mary mother of God, pray for pearse and connolly and all the rest at the hour of our death brigade are on the way out.

Erin Go Brath

murphaph wrote: »

The Holy mary mother of God, pray for pearse and connolly and all the rest at the hour of our death brigade are on the way out.

Wouldn't bank on that actually. The centenary of those brave mens deaths will be coming up in a few years, plus the centenary of Collins and the War of Independence, and their stock will be higher than ever. The West-Brit shoneen sorts can do their thing quietly in the corner for a few years, as nationalist sentiment reaches an all time high.

Sleepy

ArthurF wrote: »

The Tricolour is a 'Nationalist Aspirational flag' in that it wants there to be a Union between Unionist & Nationalist whilst there being no reference to the other adjoining countries of these islands, and that is its weakness (from an Irish/Unionist perspective)!

The Union Flag on the other hand joins St Patrick ~ St George ~ St Andrew all in the one flag, and that is where my allegiance is (to the Union) but in an Irish context (Wales is a Principality).

Complicated I know, but I am still 'Irish'.

Thanks for that. It's often hard to ask questions like that of a unionist when you've been brought up to avoid the subject of politics with northerners. Says a lot about both our cultures that despite living on the same island we often know very little about one another's.

A Dub in Glasgo

SligoBrewer wrote: »

The celtic thing in particular baffles me. I HATE CELTIC. They are a british club, who play in britain, but are supported by irish 'nationalists' and i like to see them get beaten to be pretty honest.

A Sligo person who does not know Brother Walfrid!

A Dub in Glasgo

murphaph wrote: »

The Celtic thing baffles me too. The league they play in is a load of sh!t too.

Compared to what? Seen much of it?

murphaph

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Compared to what?

Come on ADIG, you're not gonna start telling me the SPL is actually better than the Premiership or La Liga are you? If there was no sectarian bigotry in the west of Scotland those two clubs would have never become so big either. I know you won't hear a bad word said about RFC but I can't help it.

Voipjunkie

ArthurF wrote: »

The Tricolour is a 'Nationalist Aspirational flag' in that it wants there to be a Union between Unionist & Nationalist whilst there being no reference to the other adjoining countries of these islands, and that is its weakness (from an Irish/Unionist perspective)!

The Union Flag on the other hand joins St Patrick ~ St George ~ St Andrew all in the one flag, and that is where my allegiance is (to the Union) but in an Irish context (Wales is a Principality).

Complicated I know, but I am still 'Irish'.

Actually there are no adjoining countries to Ireland. Scotland is adjoining to England and Wales is adjoining to England but Ireland is not adjoining to any of them.

Your allegiance is to a Union that was foisted upon the majority of the people of Scotland and then Ireland against their wishes. A union which brought nothing but hardship for the vast majority of Irish people and Union which the majority of English people would apparently gladly like to see the back of now.

djpbarry

Voipjunkie wrote: »

Actually there are no adjoining countries to Ireland.

Yeah, there is. It's called Northern Ireland. Didn't you get the memo? You can have a look at it here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Europe_location_N-IRL.png

Voipjunkie wrote: »

A union which brought nothing but hardship for the vast majority of Irish people and Union which the majority of English people would apparently gladly like to see the back of now.

Pray tell, what hardship have you suffered as a result of said "Union"?

Voipjunkie

gurramok wrote: »

On the football thing, it gets on my wick how people think your a hypocrite for 'supporting an English football club, not supporting the English national team while being nationalistic Irish'

If you support an English football team, that means you support the club which consists of dozens of nationalities and supported worldwide by millions of non-English people as the 'best club'.
This is entirely different than supporting/not supporting the English national team which represents the English nation in culture & customs AND consists of the same players who would be in your English club team.

Everyone get it now?..:D

Its good that we have BBC/Sky as it helps educate us on British customs and way of life as well as better news sources, same as if it was an English speaking German based channel!

I'm proud to be Irish, love my accent and way of life and would fit into the Irish nationalist category.

I too support an English club team and love listening to English music and watching English tv as well as speaking English language(we know this part not out of choice but its still a good language to speak).
It don't make me any less Irish while engaging in the above, if anyone thinks so, they have a chip on their shoulder and need to expand their horizons imho!

Yeah this simplistic they watch British Television and support British footballs teams they must be secretly British is patent nonsense.

Britain happens to have the closest professional football league and following British football teams is not something that can only be found in Ireland there are plenty of other European countries that follow British soccer or a league in a neighbouring country.
Also on watching British television well I like Scrubs as well but I don't feel American even when I watch ABC news nor do I feel Australian when Neighbours is on or watching Aussie Rules and yes there are people who follow fervently Aussie Football there are even God bless them people who follow American Football.

All it means is that we are lucky we get to see some great television from around the world and some absolute tripe (but enough about Fair City) and despite being too small to support a top professional football league we have one right on our doorstep.