Am I white Irish?

I'd say that I was white British with Irish heritage if I were you.

ZOMBIE THREAD

I'd consider you to be ethnically white Irish but consider you to be British, assuming you lived in Britain all your life.

I was born in Britain to one Irish/ one British parent so I qualify as both. However we moved to Ireland when I was barely more than a toddler, and I've been here ever since so consider myself to be ethnically Irish as well as just Irish by way of nationality.

I personally would go with where you were born & raised so white British. You might have irish parents but they chose to leave & bring you up in the uk. Doesn't detract from your irish ancestry however like many others in the uk. You can be proud of both 🙂

The white Irish population in the UK is also shrinking. Down to 0.9% in England and Wales.

UK nationals make up about 2% of the population of Ireland and the numbers were decreasing up until 2016.

As someone born and raised in the UK this is my experience.

You'll always be foreign to both and will never be accepted truly be either even if you wanted to be.

Although people say they consider BAME to be British as anyone else, I think there's significant percentage of the population who don't, they just wont privately admit it and I think that percentage is larger than people think.

The white Irish population in the UK is also shrinking. Down to 0.9% in England and Wales.

You tick whatever you want.

I think some of the previous posters don't understand that Irish is an ethnicity as well as a nationality. It's possible to be Irish by ethnicity and British by nationality (or a dual citizen).

I think it might be to do with cystic fibrosis finding, when gp asks that is.

I think it will make a difference as he is the grandchild, he would have had to sign onto and pay to be registered on the foreign births register first then would be able to apply for an Irish passport. Think you have to pay to register on the fbr.

You can be a technicolour unicorn if you feel that you are. So you can (fellow nornoirish)

"after all" is doing centuries of heavy lifting here.

I despair of the ignorance of (an alarming number of) people.

He can apply for one as he has 2 grandparents with Irish passports.

Although they’re both recently dead, I don’t think that makes a difference. The counter signing of an irish passport application is somewhat onerous, and that has caused him delays.

Personally I'd say the OP should just put "British" as their nationality, after all the island of Ireland is part of the British Isles (the term includes the UK, Ireland and Isle of Man).

The 'British Isles' refers to physical geography only, not the nation states or nationality of the people that live on those islands.

As an Irish person your comment both insulting and ignorant.

SMH.

@Dotjones not really, because you can be both "white Irish" (heritage) and "British" (nationality). You can also in fact be "Irish" (citizen) - which you automatically are, if one of your parents was born on the island of Ireland, and "British" (citizen) because you're born and raised here.
I was born in the UK, to Irish(born) parents, and automatically have Irish citizenship as well as British. One doesn't negate the other, and neither has an impact on mine or my siblings' ethnic heritage (mix of white irish and indian).

🤣😂

for medical reasons I answer white Irish. My whole family appear to have lived in Ireland and are “white” skin

It may be different for your parents’ generation but in terms of genetics, I don’t think white plus Irish means much anymore and it certainly won’t in the future.
We didn’t used to have much immigration but all that had changed in the last twenty years or so.
My BIL is white, an Irish citizen, married to an Irish woman, has lived here for almost two decades but was born and raised in Poland. A friend of mine was adopted from Bosnia when she was less than a year old, has lived here since, is an Irish citizen and she would definitely call herself white Irish. She has no family she knows of in Bosnia and feels no connection to it. I know a lot of people who are white and Irish with different ethnic backgrounds. It’s all quite complex really.
When it comes down to this kind of diversity monitoring stuff, employers just want to meet their quotas. If putting down white Irish gets your foot in the door and you do actually consider yourself Irish and your heritage is important to you, absolutely go for it.
Otherwise it’s your own business and not really relevant in any other context. If you are already guaranteed an interview because you qualify as having a disability, it’s all moot really but it is interesting seeing different perspectives. None of this means they’re necessarily going to hire you so good luck with the interview.

She has both Irish and British passports. You can't "feel" your nationality, not when it comes to what passports you hold.

I'd consider you Irish, especially if you only have an Irish passport but it's entirely up to you to decide how you feel.

My kids consider themselves Britsh even though they have dual passports and both myself and DH are Irish

Personally I'd say the OP should just put "British" as their nationality, after all the island of Ireland is part of the British Isles (the term includes the UK, Ireland and Isle of Man).

I can't believe that some people still think the above, it's an insult to Irish people. The Republic of Ireland is an independent country and has been since 1921, it is also a member of the EU.

I also find it strange that in US, Hispanics aren't counted as white when they are actually white/ just more tanned/more olive than Northern Europeans. Ethnicity rarely makes sense.

you're confusing Hispanic with Spanish. Spanish people are (usually) white, Hispanic people are usually a mix of indigenous South American (not white) and Spanish or Italian settlers (white). Consider two famous Argentinians Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. The majority of Messi's DNA would be white European. But then consider Diego Maradona, an Argentinian whose ethnic background would appear to have contained a lot of indigenous Argentinian DNA.

Or look at Brazil. Pele and then the supermodel Gisele. Both Hispanic but they're certainly not both white.

You can be both British and Irish just as you could be both British and Swedish, or whatever else. It’s not one or the other.

You can put what you want! It’s however you consider yourself I think once it gets down to definitions within “white” “black” “Asian” etc.

I consider myself British for nationality background (as I’m a mix of English, Welsh and Scottish ancestry, and from abroad) rather than English, when this is asked, even though I live in England and sound English. I don’t identify with “English” at all, but British I do.

Then if it says ethnicity within white I’m British and Italian or British and European (depending on the way it’s phrased.
).

@xJ0y

I'm Irish living in the UK for many years and I can assure you on the census there's a White Irish tick box.

No the "logic" doesn't apply.

The OP can choose either British or Irish depending on their passport.

Their ethnicity with 2 Irish parents is certainly Irish but if they hold a British passport they can put British.

And NO, the Republican of Ireland, while being part of what is by some anomaly still called the British Isles, is NOT British.

Yeh I found this strange too. I lived in the uk and had English as a first language. There was no box for white - French.
People can tick what box they want but I was annoyed (not violated!!!) that there was a box specifically for white -Irish.

Weird.