Irish racism in England

[angell84]

I am shocked. I am half English, half Irish. My Irish mum lived in England for a long time, gave birth to us children there with her English husband, and then moved back to Ireland.

The reason that she always gave me for returning to Ireland, was that, "she could not take the nastiness to her anymore". She described one incident of many to me: she went to my brother's primary teacher in England, and said that he had lost something, he must have been six at the time, and the teacher said to her , "sure what do you expect - he is half Irish".

I always thought of it in an abstract way, I never really understood what she meant. Until I spent quite a long time in the U.K this year.

I was absolutely shocked at the hatred and nastiness, and calling Irish people stupid.

How can it be possible? The U.K stole alot of Ireland's land, committed mass genocide during the famine, eradicated the Irish language,

And yet instead of apologising, many people are going around calling Irish people stupid.

Isn't it nearly unbelievable? It would be like a German going up to a Jew and calling them stupid. That it was their fault , thhat everything happened the way it did.

I am really shocked

In the 1980's and early 90's I would have had a fair few insults when living in England, but at that time there was an IRA terror campaign with bombings on the mainland and we were all tarred with the one brush.

^This 100%. I was studying in London during their campaign on the mainland, it was a very tense time. It's on a similar level to anti Muslim sentiment today.

This thread is now seemingly a load of irish people getting angry about what other irish people (without them realising) have said and blaming it on them being british.

Scots made up the british forces in the british army as well you know? infact the first soldiers murdered by the IRA were scottish teenagers. Possibly a statement that english people are all arrrogant but you love the scottish is a touch idiotic?

Looking back I am amazed I didn't have racist comments directed at me, it was a tense time. I remember being in Oxford Street when there was a bomb scare, that was nasty and frightening.
I worked in quite an ethnically diverse university town, maybe that cushioned the racism?

infact the first soldiers murdered by the IRA were scottish teenagers. Possibly a statement that english people are all arrrogant but you love the scottish is a touch idiotic?

Are you equating all Irish people to the IRA now? I don't really understand what kind of a point you're trying to make with this post.

my point is the way the british army is talked about you would think it never contained scots, or there had never been any issue with scotland among republicans.

Not sure when mentioning something in a historical context became 'equating them all the same', but thats woke bollocks for ya.

my point is the way the british army is talked about you would think it never contained scots, or there had never been any issue with scotland among republicans
Scotland is part of british so no need to say the Scottish Welsh and English army.
Lots of Irish don't have issue with Scots as Scotland is in a similar situation. There are many nationalists in Scotland.
Did Catholic Scots join the British army?
You know the whole Celtics vs Rangers years. Ireland and Scotland are akin in many ways as in Catholic vs Protestant.

I'm not Irish so I can't say whether there was anti Irish sentiment in London. What I recall is that football matches between England and Northern Ireland were very tense.

There was a lot of suspicion against anyone with an Irish accent, especially after a bombing, and obviously there were several miscarriages of justice as a result.

My DB made an Irish friend in Leeds who did turn out to be an IRA member who planted a bomb. He ended up under suspicion himself as he accepted a loan from this friend. We ended up with detectives coming to interview him, so it was quite scary. (We made light of this by nicknaming them 'Miami Vice' but it could have been bad for him as he always has been quite gullible.)

I think people who grew up after the Good Friday Agreement can't really appreciate how it was in the days of the Troubles.

@eggandonion I'm glad your experiences were positive during those days.

This thread is now seemingly a load of irish people getting angry about what other irish people (without them realising) have said and blaming it on them being british
Yes change the word Irish to English and the word British to the EU.
Pretty much sums up most threads on MN.
This thread is now seemingly a load of English people getting angry about what other English people (without them realising) have said and blaming it on the EU. 🤫
The irony.

Woke bollox? Well that's original anyway, I'll give you that.

And I'm sure "republicans" are well aware that British settlers in NI were mainly Scottish too. But I'm sure you already know that with your vast knowledge and dealings with all them republicans

Loads of catholic scots in the british army, in fact i know a few NI catholics in there.

Been to a lot of Old firm games, its mostly just mouth, not a lot of conviction behind it (except for the odd crusty old moron with a UVF badge)

No idea what point you're making there, or against who, Emerald?

Loads of catholic scots in the british army, in fact i know a few NI catholics in there
Oh okay. It was a question I wasn't sure as I know there is a recruitment issue in NI for the PSNI around religious and cultural beliefs.

Yeah im sure there i still an issue there, but there are more than you might imagine. Still a lot of recruits from the Republic as well. There was a good BBC thing about the PSNI (RUC back then of course) on not far back, that issue is as old as the state it seems.

Ah yes stop living in the past you stupid Irish 🙄
Can someone explain to me this “mainland” thing that keeps cropping up?

The Mainland... the bigger of the two islands, it is not an expression used i the republic (which has a lot of offshore islands). It was used by unionists in NI, who had links (via the union) to Westminster. They also tended to call 'the six counties' The Province.
In the nineties various people I knew called GB the Landbridge, and use it as a way of taking two ferries to France. (They would have been protestants...)
It's complicated.

I know, thanks eggandonion I live in Dublin 😁
It always gets my back up when “The mainland” is used

One of the comedians who seem to live in BBCNI did a good rant about a match beween Province and Mainland.

I had racist comments about once a month right through the 90s, for example, one guy would not call me by name but 'Paddy' instead.
My male friends got worst racism including a few beatings. I think the anti-Irish sentiment has subsided, I haven't had any racism in the 2000s. I am worried that it will rise again, looking at the writing in the Telegraph, Sun, Mail and Express during Brexit and the rise in English nationalism.

'mainland' is mostly used by NI protestants isnt it? up to them really.

That would be my thinking! I don't know if it was used historically by others on the island of Ireland.

I can’t imagine it’s ever been used in the 21st century or even the 20th in the ROI
It refers to Ireland being part of Britain

I'm wondering about very early 20th century, pre partition, was it used? I haven't heard it used recently in NI, to be honest. I tend to zone out when Arlene speaks though!

Scots made up the british forces in the british army as well you know? infact the first soldiers murdered by the IRA were scottish teenagers. Possibly a statement that english people are all arrrogant but you love the scottish is a touch idiotic?

You realise they weren't targeted for being Scottish, Patroclus?

The legions of Scots in the Indian Army and Civil Service weren't keeping a firm grip on the Scottish Empire.

Or the many Irish. This would include my Irish RC Sandhurst graduate grandfather.

There was am Irish man on the bus (in Brighton) a few weeks ago who was ranting about how English people were all stupid, all the women were prostitutes and there is a reason they used to blow us up.
It goes both ways.