Ah you're a Catholic!

This is an important point. I am doing history at uni right now, and I went to a good school. But we learnt nothing at GCSE & A Level History, or before that, about Irish history, even recent events which majorly impacted Britain too. We didn't learn much about Britain post-1930s either. The focus was very much on global events, WW2 and Cold War.

It's tricky but as the UK it's really sad there's not enough education about Scotland, Wales or Ireland.

Well yes but that's my point the diverse make up of Britain means that these perceived attitudes are just not in existence for many Brits anymore, the are probably too young to know, are completely ignorant to the history and the history isn't theirs if they have diverse heritage!

Studied in London for a while and had patients call me the Catholic and Paddy. It was so bad.

Why would the Irish not be liked in different countries, there is no historical conflict. Having said that, I am still shocked that in this day and age people are still knowledgeable enough to maintain such prejudices.

The British aren't all perceived in the way the Irish perceive them, certainly not where I have family in Scandinavian countries they quite like the British, their sense of humour, music even getting tipsy but again it is hard to tell what nations think of you unless you speak all of these languages.

The 'troubles between England and Ireland' are not really relevant to the core assumptions people have about the Irish.

The attitudes that cause British people to.look down their noses at the Irish originate far, far deeper than recent history.. They are rooted in religious and cultural history that few Britons are aware of.

The attitudes can be traced in the pages of 19th Century issues of Punch magazine, where the Irish were relentlessly portrayed as simian creatures, lazy, feckless, uncouth, and Catholic.

I'm Australian from an Irish background and I would probably assume you are Catholic tbh sorry about that. I don't know any Irish immigrants to Australia that aren't Catholic and I know a lot because the area I live in is strongly Catholic, therefore we attract a lot of Irish!

I don't really understand why you appear to be taking it as an insult. That is how it reads to me, though perhaps that is unintentional on your part.

I think that many English people still have the belief that England is somehow superior to other countries - Ireland included. Probably due to being a colonial empire in the past. And with so much multiculturism, and the disaster of Brexit, there is a loss of identity so people live in the past. Thats my tuppence worth anyway.

Yes, I can well imagine that but that's more likely because of the history and the population size and the ethnic diversity is much smaller so there are more collective thoughts on this topic. In contrast that collective thought just doesn't exist here IME, mainly because it is a much more multicultural society where with a variety of references to different conflicts either via heritage or lived experience!

That said, I definitely think you are right and it is not ok to assume this and certainly not voice such an opinion.

Great post.

And obviously it has never crossed the minds of some that Ireland also has Protestants, Jews, etc, and always has.

My neighbours growing up in Dublin were CoI. Kids I went to school with were Plymouth Brethren. The CoI neighbours and the Plymouth Brethren families were a lot more churchgoing than many of the RC neighbours or fellow students.

There was a CoI National.School (primary school) in the suburb I lived in. There are old and well.established secondary schools run by CoI, Methodist and other protestant denominations.

That reminds me of a friend I had in 6th form. She had brown skin so people would assume she was muslim. She always wore jeans etc and no head covering but people used to tell her off for drinking alcohol. She used to shout "I aint no Muslim, I aint nothing" at them.

Well if they watched the news in the past 100 years or so of anything that comes out of Ireland have they had their head up their own backsides? they must know the whole point of the issues there is no not everyone is Catholic?

have they been living under a rock?

I very much have seen racism but not towards Irish people. I think it's quite strange that you think there is no racism in France, Greece, Germany, etc. Why would such countries be racist towards the Irish. Presumably it wouldn't even be racism in these countries as it has no historical relevance. I assume you are white?

I get what you mean but Saudi is a bit different as even now synagogues, churches, anything but a mosque are illegal, so is trying to convert others to anything but Islam. It's not quite a direct parallel to Ireland where it was strict but never that repressive.

I am really surprised that you still receive abuse for being Irish in the UK. I'm not trying to be facetious but many people will be too ignorant or young to know of the troubles between England and Ireland. I have an Irish married surname but nobody ever mentions it or thinks anything of it.

Oh that sounds good, I want to watch