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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Am I white Irish?

243 replies

SmallNuts · 01/12/2022 21:12

Parents are from Ireland, have the accent, moved when they were late twenties.

i was born in England. Have an Irish passport. Live in England.

can I consider myself white Irish?

it’s for diversity monitoring.

OP posts:
Wakemeuuuup · 02/12/2022 10:33

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

TheOrigRights · 02/12/2022 11:05

Wakemeuuuup · 02/12/2022 10:33

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

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

AllforGloria · 02/12/2022 11:16

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.

AnnieSnap · 02/12/2022 12:53

JohnStuartMill · 02/12/2022 00:09

I hope it did not end in pistols at dawn.

🤣😂

wtftodo · 02/12/2022 13:11

@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).

TattoedLady · 02/12/2022 17:44

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.

DillDanding · 02/12/2022 18:04

yoyy · 02/12/2022 00:06

@DillDanding how can your dc get one of you don't have one?

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.

AhNowTed · 02/12/2022 20:12

TattoedLady · 02/12/2022 17:44

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.

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

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

Trainbear · 02/12/2022 20:18

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

ironingboredrefusal · 02/12/2022 20:24

DillDanding · 02/12/2022 18:04

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.

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.

PeaceJoySleep · 03/12/2022 12:09

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

mishl · 03/12/2022 12:25

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).

Cybercubed · 04/12/2022 17:41

LiveIngSun · 01/12/2022 22:36

If you ask an Irish person- you’re probably British
If you ask a British person- you’re probably Irish
😜

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.

JocelynBurnell · 10/12/2022 18:15

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.

Kaz40s · 18/08/2023 12:23

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 🙂

Turfwars · 18/08/2023 12:54

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.

JaneJeffer · 18/08/2023 13:30

ZOMBIE THREAD

Curseofthenation · 18/08/2023 13:35

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

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