Who agrees that in order to be irish you have to have grown up in ireland?

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xxEllexx

Totally agree with you

I'm 100% Irish. I visited America a couple of years ago and the second they hear where you'reee from they'ree like "oh cool. I'm Irish too"
And 90% have never set foot in the country!

My boyfriend is from England - with Irish parents - (moved here when he was about 9)
Even he refers to himself as English.

I think Americans just love the idea of being from Ireland - thus they claim some kind of connection to it.
Even if it was their great grandfathers cousin's dog that was actually IRISH. *rolls eyes*
nuff said! x

EDIT!...Although i love some of Priscilla Duck's answers, this one annoyed me. .
Although some of these south-siders are pretentious and their behaviour is often perceived as 'false'; you cannot disregard these people as being Irish.
Why? Because they don't speak with the typical 'Oirish' accent?
I myself am from the "dortspeak" area as she calls it. I don't think that fact constitutes me as less Irish than someone from another area.
As for the accent, language is ever-changing so although it seems 'put on', maybe this is the development of a new branch of language. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it isn't Irish.
My Dad slags me all the time for putting to many 'likes' in my sentences. I admit I speak that way. But at the same time, im the daughter of a Clare man and i have fluent Irish. What does that say about me? Grrrr!
It seems that she, in particular, has some issue with "D4's". I certainly wouldn't consider myself 'less Irish' than some second or third generation American just because I probably don't have the same sense of tradition as her and am from south Dublin!
The concept of 'Irishness' is dynamic. But I do believe that simply 'knowing' facts about a country doesnt NOT entitle you to a claim on that nationality.

greenorlagh

No - I don't agree with you. I understand what you are saying and you are entitled to your opinion - I must admit I don't really like all those plastic paddies either! BUT if you have Irish parents and brought up in an Irish culture - whether in Limerick or Timbuktoo then I reckon ye are entitled to yer Irishness.

Ruthie

No, I do not agree. Especially with Americans. America is a melting pot and your past is part of you. If your parents were both born in Ireland both 100% Irish but they moved to America when you were a baby, before you could remember, your still Irish. The locale has nothing to do with it. Your parents will still pass down Irish traditions to you and you will pass that on to your children and them their children and so on. It's not about the geography, it's about the culture, the traditions.

EDIT: I beg to differ, traditions are very much alive in my family.

EDIT2: this is tradition defined by Websters dictionary
1 a: an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom) b: a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable
2: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction
3: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions
4: characteristic manner, method, or style <in the best liberal tradition>

Nowhere in there does it say that you absolutely must be in the exact place that the social attitudes the customs the manners the methods the beliefs came from. As far as I'm concerned an Irish person could have been raised in the Middle East and they would still be Irish as long as their traditions are upheld. I respect your opinion but I still do not agree.

James M

I think you keep your nationality wherever you move to. If you are born with Irish Nationality, you remain Irish. If you moved to India at 40 and lived there until you were 100 you would not be considered Indian for the last 60 years of your life.

Americans like to say that they are Irish American or whatever as their country only goes back a couple of centuries and they therefore have no history or traditions of their own. That is why they like to identify with Ireland as it has a much longer history and lots of tradition.

Not waving but drowning

Dear Jay,

My Parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all Irish born and bred.

Now, I do have relations in America, and the only reason they are there is because of the famine.

People have to move between countries because of circumstance, it is fine and well for you to say I AM IRISH BECAUSE WE NEVER LEFT.

I'm sorry sunshine but some HAD NO CHOICE, and therefore they boarded the Dunbrody from Wexford harbour and hoped that America would welcome them, which they did, and they prospered, TG.

AND THAT IS WHY THEY CALL THEMSELVES IRISH-AMERICAN (because they cherish their heritage)

My parents had to make a similar decision back in 1957, my Father could get no work in Ireland so had to seek employment in England.

I was born in England but I am of Irish blood through and through. my parents hankered for 15 years to return to Ireland, but you can only return to your homeland when it is able to support you and your family.

My family moved back to Ireland when I was 15. That was many moons ago.

We'll see how you feel after the next 2 years of resession when you have to seek employment outside of Ireland will you be Canadian in 5 years I wonder ?.

You have been cossetted by the celtic tiger.

(ps: I'm not sorry for the rant - read your Irish history lad)

hogdigerdy

your Irish if you grew up there as that's what fixes your mind set, your character, the way you think,and who you are as a person, or spent the majority of your life there.
people who attach Irish to there country do so to gain some kind of kudos (attaching themselves to the troubles) or history and a way to trace there ancestors country of origin

IRISH AND PROUD

its not about where you grew up its about your parents!if they are irish you are too. so if people live in ireland for a good few years and decide to move do you mean that they aren't irish anymore because they don't live in ireland?

froggequene

Can I just clarify? You believe that if you were raised in India, you would call yourself Indian? Would that be because you identify with the ethics, history & culture of the continent you're raised in and reject the values and culture your parents would try to raise you with? You have a very simplistic view of ethnicity & nationality, I think you need to learn the difference then re-phrase this question and try again. I don't like plastic paddies anymore then anyone else but nationality & ethnicity are about more then being raised in a place

hesitant_smile

I think that if you're from two parents who are 100% Irish, then you're still Irish, no matter where you live. i understand what you're saying though. I think it's just that people like to be able to belong to one group or another. If I were you, I would take it as a compliment that others want to be like you! I don't understand why some Irish get so offended when people like their culture and country. Geez, try going somewhere and telling people where you're from, only to hear them say, "America? Aren't you all loud and fat over there?" I'd like people to like my country for a change!

raver82

how do you know what you would have called herself unless you actually did move when you were a week old.

i was born in Ireland, my parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc were all born here aswell. 21 years ago my cousin was born in Ireland but has never lived here, her mother moved to England when she was 5 days old, only returned to get christened here and then moved back, in her eyes she's Irish and she is, she doesn't class herself as English. you are the nationality of the place in which you were born in, not your adopted country. you can hold dual citizenship, it doesn't take away from the fact that you are the nationality of the country in which you were born in. I don't see why some people here got so offended about people who class themselves as Irish-American, if they want to let them. what harm does it do to you.

Kimberlee Taylor

I have lived in Ireland my entire life, my mum is Irish and so are her parents, etc. But if someone asks if I'm Irish, I often say half as my dad's Dutch. I believe it has more to do with where your parents are. I consider my self Dutch-Irish.

Misty Blue

Do you think as Gaeilge?My children ,who do, might consider you a plastic Paddy if you don't.Unfair?
It depends on your cultural identity,race,ethnicity,not just by where you're domiciled.You cannot just discount generations of heritage.It's too simple to base it just on where you are brought up.Take the children of military people who can spend their lives living in various continents.What do they get to call themselves?They'll be whatever nationalities cultural identity is ingrained in them from their parents.

Priscilla Duck

No, I don't agree. Nationality is about a sense of belonging. You don't have to have been born and raised within a geographical territory in order to believe in and belong to it's traditions and heritage. I felt more Irish when I lived abroad than I do now that I live back in Ireland, and I found that members of the Irish expat communities in the countries where I lived managed quite easily to inculcate a sense of Irishness in their children, including an accent, knowledge of Irish history and customs and in many cases, at least a smattering of the Irish language. I don't see how anyone can claim that those children are less Irish than Irish-born children who have been raised on a nondescript suburban housing estate speaking some weird bastardisation of Californian-tinged Dortspeak and who have a very limited and biased notion of Irish history and what it means to be Irish. It is quite possible to belong to two cultures simultaneously. If you don't believe so, it is just because your own experience is monocultural, which is a much simpler identity. However, many people are comfortable with more complex identities and don't always identify with one culture more strongly than another. Others identify most strongly with the dominant culture in which they have been raised, which is usually determined by the nationality of the parents unless they are committed to becoming fully integrated into the society to which they have moved.

Happening_babe

I think you have to get to 5/6/7 years old, ie when you begin to feel Irish before your irish.. also it annoys me the way half the world claims to be irish! Us genuine irish are actually quite hard to find (except in Ireland!)

Orla C

Born and reared there .... but what about the Indian kids whose families are Indian, but who were born and reared in Ireland?

And believe me, there are plenty of families like this here ....

What can they call themselves?

Trust me I'm a Doctor â™¥

I think to call yourself Irish you need to have been born here, its doesn't really matter where your parents were born or whether you grew up in Ireland, if you weren't born here you can't call yourself "Irish". I've lived in Ireland for 4 years but I'm not Irish because I was born in England.

Even if I live here for the next 50 years (hopefully) I shall still not class myself as "Irish" and I don't think Irish people would like it if I did to be honest.

Hi!

Irish all the way

AobhrÃl

Absolutely agree, my family are all born and bred Irish going back centuries, so I'm Irish cos I grew up here but I'm also IrishCeltic/IrishGaelic because my blood is Native, i have friends who are IrishIbo, IrishSlavic etc cos they grew up here but their heritage is something else and the way the government calls them the 'New Irish' annoys me cos they don't seem to understand the important difference and they're trying to make them into something they'll never be and don't want to be! As for Americans, I have cousins in America who call themselves Celtic Americans.
@ anyone who says most Irish are not actually Celtic, I know! I understand that we are mostly pre-celtic, but Irish heritage is known as Celtic however innacurate and considering the similiarities in art and religion between the tribes I just call them Early Celts

~*ChevyChick*~

I disagree. I am Irish but have never been to Ireland. So if my parents are Irish but we live in the U.S., that means I'm not Irish? What about the hundreds of years of ancestors that are Irish? Does that count for nothing? Just ignore the past? Because I couldn't exactly control where I was born. So just because I wasn't born in Ireland and do not live there, that takes away my heritage? As for you, who was born in Ireland and grew up in India, you say you're Indian just because you lived there? That is not accurate. You are Irish, as am I. No one can take that away from us. No matter what. You cannot change what you are. Nor can anyone else. I am an American citizen, yes, but I am an Irish descendent. That is me.

Flying mop dog

I don't agree with you entirely but I definately agree with your sentiment. I would however argue that if you have an Irish passport you are Irish.

Christine

if you moved to India at a week old I bet you would still call yourself Irish, maybe Irish Indian, but you would still call yourself Irish. Same way Polish children born and brought up here call themselves Irish Poles.

As for your rant against Irish Americans, most Americans only put a 'tag' on to identify themselves, a conversation opener as such, its still a relatively new country. Like all people born and raised in different countries to their ancestors they have a misguided romantic views of Ireland, (or Scotland, France, Spain etc etc etc) , but I don't have a problem with it, people can call themselves anything they like. Why get upset over it?

My problems arise when people become too nationalistic, where we are born is nothing short of an accident of birth, the fact that I'm Irish (4 generation Dubliner) does not make me better or worse than someone born say in Rome, now does it? Nationalism, or pride in where were born has been used, and will always be used as a tool to manipulate people by those with an agenda.

cami11a8

I disagree with you on some of your points, but I do agree it's silly when some people claim they're "one-sixteenth" Irish, as I often hear. They should just say they're of Irish descent, or just say who the Irish relation was to them.
However, I do not think you need to have been born in Ireland to say you're Irish. I'm not Irish, but I am American of Mexican descent, so I consider myself Mexican-American. That does NOT mean I have one American parent and one Mexican parent (what does American mean anyway?? We're mixed...), it means that I am 100% Mexican but I was raised in the United States. I would never disregard my Mexican heritage and say that I am simply American, because there are many traditions that I proudly uphold and I look very Mexican.
Also, my fiance considers himself 3/4 Irish, as his mother and grandfather were both born in Ireland, and I believe he has every right to do so. He visits his relatives in Ireland nearly every year, and I don't think he should be denied the right to call himself 3/4 Irish, or an Irish-American.

ilovetwirls

It's where you were born and where you lived all your life not your parents nationality. It dosent matter if you father lived in scotland for five years when he was young that does not make you bleedin scottish for 'eff sake

a_beautiful_wreck

I think Americans tend to claim ancestry to other countries because we have a fairly new country and most of what effects a person, their outlook and their belief system, is typically deeper rooted than what America's history has to offer.

I have claimed to be not only Irish-American, but Irish-Catholic-American. It is my background that makes me the person I am and determines to great extent how I view the world. I don't do it to annoy anyone, simply to explain where I am "coming from".

If you were to move to India and become a citizen, you would have every right to claim being Indian. You would be an Indian citizen, but not of another race, nor of another religious, cultural or ethnic background. Your neighbors would more than likely refer to you as the Irish neighbor. You also would be within reason if you were living within a community where you felt lost, and needed to identify with a group to continue to add "Irish" to your new Indian status.

CAT^

Born on US soil, raised on US soil, both grandparents born in Ireland; I'm Irish.

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