Ah you're a Catholic!

Loads of them do absolutely detest us

I wouldn’t say that’s at all true of the majority. Irish people don’t trust the British government and get irked by the fact that British people often don’t know their own history. It means politicians in particular can then say and do things that are pretty tone deaf!

There is still rivalry too, don’t want to be beaten by England in various sports etc. And some people (English, American etc) seem to think Ireland is quite a backward place which is annoying 😅

But that’s a long way from detesting English people at an individual level. Lots of English people live very happily in Ireland and are very welcome.

@Carla786 Is Irish hatred of the British really common though? I hope not.

It is common. My DS’s ex is Irish. She openly talked of how much she’d hated the British, but everyone she had met since she moved here was lovely (but she still hated the ones she hadn’t met).

I was once in a taxi in Dublin. The driver asked where we were from and I told him we were from Liverpool. He said “Ah, you’re grand then. You’re not English”.

Loads of them do absolutely detest us, and I do understand where that comes from but at the same time they need to recognise that it’s discrimination and grossly unfair. I’m not personally responsible for the actions of the British government 200 years ago, or that those atrocities aren’t taught in our schools. I support a united Ireland, if that is the wish of the majority of Irish people. I believe that Bloody Sunday was a crime and I don’t think I’m the only British person with those beliefs. Far from it.

I agree with you although there was immigration to Ireland in the 90s, particularly the late 90s. (Also please don’t call Ireland Eire…there are a few reasons for this).

This is bizarre. I'm Irish in London with a very Oirish name and in 20 years no one has said such a thing to me. I wonder if you're in a town with a particular history of anti Irish/Catholic sentiment and people try to compensate?

Though you can tell something about a culture by how (and indeed if!) it satirises itself.

That's weird. I might assume but I wouldn't say anything. We were raised on Father Ted in the 90s though so that's probably my main window into Irish culture, and I'm sure things have moved on...

I worked in Pakistan for a while and everyone assumed I was a Christian because I'm white. I'm not a Christian but I was raised in a culturally Christian environment so I suppose it made sense.

@Catlady007007
The thing is…. I don’t think this post is genuine. I think it’s been started deliberately to encourage an argument about race and to sow division
Im afraid I think it’s highly unlikely that someone in the UK in 2026 would immediately point someone, even if they were Irish, to a Catholic Church. The only exception maybe was if the other person was also catholic and they were trying to find common ground. If so, the OP has missed any nuance and is using it deliberately to cause an argument.
The censuses of the 1990s in Ireland showed that over 90% of the population identified as catholic and over 93% were born in Ireland and the remaining 7% were British ( of Irish extraction) plus some Poles.

@Catlady007007
The thing is…. I don’t think this post is genuine. I think it’s been started deliberately to encourage an argument about race and to sow division
Im afraid I think it’s highly unlikely that someone in the UK in 2026 would immediately point someone, even if they were Irish, to a Catholic Church. The only exception maybe was if the other person was also catholic and they were trying to find common ground. If so, the OP has missed any nuance and is using it deliberately to cause an argument.
The censuses of the 1990s in Ireland showed that over 90% of the population identified as catholic and over 93% were born in Ireland and the remaining 7% were British ( of Irish extraction) plus some Poles.

@Catlady007007
The thing is…. I don’t think this post is genuine. I think it’s been started deliberately to encourage an argument about race and to sow division
Im afraid I think it’s highly unlikely that someone in the UK in 2026 would immediately point someone, even if they were Irish, to a Catholic Church. The only exception maybe was if the other person was also catholic and they were trying to find common ground. If so, the OP has missed any nuance and is using it deliberately to cause an argument.
The censuses of the 1990s in Ireland showed that over 90% of the population identified as catholic and over 93% were born in Ireland and the remaining 7% were British ( of Irish extraction) plus some Poles.

Visiting family actually. I’m of Irish descent

Until very recently, Eire with the exception of Dublin maybe, was predominantly white Irish.

You are comparing your visit to someone who lived and was educated there. Really?

I visited Ireland in the 1990s and it was predominantly white with a few Poles and everyone went to church

I'm not from Dublin. I wasnt raised any religion

So I was in school in the 1990s in Ireland.

The Catholic church definitely did not hold "an almighty sway" in my area at that time. I never really even saw anyone from the catholic church like priests or nuns.

In the 1990s lots of people from abroad had moved to Ireland. I remember muslims, hindus and athiests being at school with me.

Yes it is absolutely historically accurate

Yet I see no threads started by English people about ‘the problems with Irish people’, but many in the reverse.

Of course, so I would say:

Gerry Adams - Before the Dawn
Dirty Linen - Martin Doyle
Say Nothing - Patrick Keefe
Killing Thatcher - Rory Carroll

Documentary wise, Hunger is a film but a good one regarding the hunger strikes. There was a good series on iPlayer called Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (they also did an excellent series on the invasion of Iraq). Also ‘Sunday’ on C4 (ends with audience debate which was quite poignant I thought).

Irish people may want to comment on that list if there is a moral hole in it somewhere but I think it covers the main aspects/viewpoints.

That’s just because of the deep rooted (justified) hatred of the British. It’s not like the way the English and French have an affectionate hate relationship it’s genuine hate. Like the Pakistanis and Indians or Taiwan and China. A local, ancient hatred. We just all live with it in our bones now although of course it’s outwardly greatly reduced in recent decades

Great post. It's certainly an unhealthy approach.

I'm quite interested in the Troubles myself : I don't suppose you might be able to recommend any books you found particularly informative?

I have to say I agree with this. As I’ve said I have Irish parents and spent a fair amount of time there- so I don’t say this as criticism but as sort of arms length observation.

Irish people have recently been infected with the same far right facism that has infected pretty much all of Europe. They’re not immune to it, and it’s growing.

irish people have always had a reputation for being incredibly welcoming, part of the reason it’s such a popular tourist destination. However, the reality was there was little immigration, particularly by refugees or asylum seekers. That began to happen when Ireland became richer, more easily accessed and had more opportunities.

it’s become clear that when they feel something is being taken, they can be as unkind and as unwelcoming as the British, French, Germans, swedes etc.

Irish history is also my history, and the history of a lot of English people - so many of us have Irish blood/grandparents/ancestry.

I have actually watched a lot of documentaries and read a lot of books about the Troubles (and history leading up to) including the autobiography of Gerry Adams (which is a very controversial choice to many here). I consider myself far better acquainted with Irish history than most.

But truly, compassion fatigue sets in when there is this constant berating of English people, how awful they are, how they’re ’uneducated about history’, how we have ‘never suffered’ and so on. It’s relentless, and these threads are yet more thinly veiled opportunities to dig at English people and force us to engage with it all over again.

Let me ask you, what will be enough for some Irish people to start to move on from this issue? Britain has released virtually all IRA prisoners, Northern Ireland has complete autonomy over its future. Britain has issues public apologies, held extensive and very expensive inquiries into the Troubles, we negotiated the GFA. Ireland has prospered in the last decade and is doing very well, better than England in many ways, so no active harm remains.

You have to realise this level of hatred is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die. It’s not healthy at all