To say I'm half Irish

[Winederlust]

Just wanted to settle a petty argument between DH and I.
I was born in England. As was my mum. My dad also. However both his parents were born in ROI. They moved to the UK as young adults and met, married and settled with a family in England.
I think that, although my dad was born in England, he is full blooded Irish. Which in turn makes me half Irish. My DH reckons I'm quarter at best.
Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but just interested in the general MN population's thoughts?

I don't understand why people are saying your dad was British because he was born in England. I was born in Germany, my parents were working over there at the time, but we moved to England when I was 5 weeks old. I'm not German You would have only got jus soli citizenship if your parents had permanent residence, if they were only there for work maybe they were not permanent residents? You do know that different countries have different rules though right? If the OP’s father was born in the UK before 1983 he would have automatically got British citizenship. I am guessing he was.

It depends as to whether being Irish is considered an ethnicity or a citizenship of a country. In my opinion it should be the latter. Both my parents and all my grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great parents and great-great-great grandparents were British but as none of us were white for some reason dickhead racists like to call us Indian.

I've had a similar argument with exh. My father is Italian (never known him), my maternal side are all English bar my nana who is French. Ex claimed I had no right to say I was English/British as my "English blood" was "diluted" whereas the Italian was "pure". According to him I should call myself Italian. I've never been to the country and have no connection with my Italian heritage.

I was allowed to be European however.

Both your parents are English, you can’t be half Irish, I’d say 1/4.
My parents were both born in Scotland, me in England, I consider myself 1/2 Scottish.

So op, would you/he say he is 100% Irish?

You’re not half Irish.

I have one, (IrishBorn mother, classic Irish mammy... proper culchie despite being here for 40 years)

My mum wouldn’t have been as Irish if she’d been born here as her cultural point of reference wouldn’t have involved Irish people/ customs only.

OP just get an Irish passport!

Who made you the grammar police @Euclid?

I'd say half Irish genetically. I work with a lot of people with different cultural heritages- generally they consider themselves to be of their parents/grandparents heritage regardless of where they were actually born and raised.

My dads parents are both welsh but he was raised in England so I would say I'm a quarter welsh.

Genetically you’re half Irish.
Nationality wise, you’re British.
The two things are different.
I don’t see how anyone could make you a quarter Irish.

As a pp said, if you want any future children to benefit, apply for an Irish passport now. My dh was entitled to one because of a GM born in Ireland but only applied recently (Brexit). Dds are annoyed with him for not applying before they were born!

My DH has is dual Brit/Irish.
He was born in Uk.
His dad was born in UK.
His Mum was born in Ireland.

2 Brit grandparents, 2 Irish grandparents.

He calls himself half Irish.

Just get a passport easy enough to do

I was adopted at 6 weeks by an English couple. However my birth mother was half Irish (on he mother's side) so I was able to get an Irish passport. Happy days.

What does your dad associate himself as being?

My father had English parents and was born in England but moved to wales before 1. He considers himself a welsh man, supports wales in sporting events etc, married a welsh woman, culturally etc he’s welsh.

Um, you're British. Unless you were born in Ireland, then you're not Irish. The fact that neither of your parents were born in Ireland either means you're definitely not.

I do the American thing of identifying by nationality.

I'm Irish-English, with both parents born in the ROI. I would qualify for an Irish passport.

As an insult, I've been referred to as a 'Plastic Paddy', a 'Black & Tan' or a 'Half & Half'.

Imagine calling a black or mixed race person a 'Coconut' and you get how insulting it is.

You can call yourself what you like. I'd probably describe you as a British person of Irish descent, but I wouldn't argue with your definition 🤷

That said, I would take issue if you applied it to someone else without checking. DP's parents are English but moved to Scotland before he was born and he was born and raised there. He'd be pretty pissed off if you called him English!

You’re lucky - you can get an Irish passport!

Hmmm, I'm trying to puzzle this one out. I consider myself to be half Irish. I was born in the UK and my father is British but my mother was born and grew up in Ireland. So to me that means I'm half Irish. I don't feel 100% British just because of where I happened to be born. So actually, he more I think about it, if that applies to your father, then I agree with you.

You are British. Both of your parents were British. Calling yourself half Irish because some of your Grandparents were Irish is a bit of a stretch. Its very American but if you feel you are half Irish and relate to the Culture then you can call yourself whatever you want. Both you and DH are right and wrong.

My DS gets himself in a middle about this. He was born in Britain where DH abd I have lived for 25+ years. I was born in Ireland, Irish parents as far back as you like. His father happened to be born in a country in Africa to Irish parents. My DS reckons he’s half Irish, half British and a quarter African (His maths needs work) we maintain he is genetically Irish, but can call himself whichever he likes, half Irish British, British or Irish. We don’t see any connection to Africa in his case. He has plenty of Irish cultural references but also more British than we do, despite living here less time than us his culture is being shaped more by school, etc, whereas ours in quite embedded. He holds both Irish and British passports.

I guess this depends on if you are looking at this from a genetic/ cultural or place of birth and where raised point of view? I have a parent who is Welsh and one who is English. I was born in England so I say I'm half Welsh and I did live in Wales for a while when I was little.
I have two grandparents that were born and raised in England, one born and raised I. Scotland and one Ireland. But it never occurs to me to say I'm a quarter Irish or a quarter Scottish.
See initially I thought you'd asked a straightforward question but it turns out it's not

And now I think about it, even if I'd been born in Ireland, I would still describe myself as half Irish as my father is British. It's the same as saying you're "from" the place where you were born. I'm not "from" the town I was born in as my parents moved when I was less than a year old. I have no connection with that place but it states on my birth certificate that I was born there.

@Euclid - your emotional intelligence is atrocious.

All my grand parents were Irish but my parents were born in England as was I. I’d always thought I was half Irish. But from this thread it looks like genetically Irish but nationality would be British.

This is reminding me. I must sort out my Irish passport.