@limitedperiodonly
My paternal grandparents and that side of the family were Irish but I am an English citizen of Britain. I neither celebrate nor reject those facts.
I knew about Irish politics and a small bit about culture because of my father and also because I grew up in the 1970s and we visited Ireland sometimes. But I always regarded myself as English/British because that is what I am. As my mother was English/British it would have been strange for me to ignore her heritage and identify as Irish.
If people want to do that then that's okay. I suppose some people think it makes them more interesting and the English are always keen on appropriating an opportunity for a drink on someone else's holiday.
I found it odd when US citizens much further removed from me from the old country described themselves as Irish and worse that some of them gave money to the IRA at teary-eyed functions for widows and orphans. I remember my dad having an interesting conversation with an American of Irish descent who thought that was a way for them to bond.
I was a child during those 1970s bombing campaigns and not close to any targets except on school trips to places like the Tower of London. But my father, brother and sister could have been blown to bits because they worked in those target areas every day. They were innocent civilians not agents of the British state.
I took no pleasure in 9/11 but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder then and now whether people - particularly those in the NYPD and FDNY or politicians from presidents downwards - understand what it is to be an innocent civilian considered to be the legitimate target of people with a grievance from a foreign land.
Yes, the Irish-Americans were criticised by Bono during a concert in New York following the Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday atrocity. Quite right too.
The Irish Times had an article on Irish-Americans and their views is, quite frankly, well out of touch. Most of them thought the entire island had a massive population - one thought it was 100 million ! 
The whole funding of NORAID in the US was shameful.
But it must be understood that only a section of Irish-Americans supported NORAID, Sinn Féin and the PIRA. Only a section of Irish-Americans are themselves Nationalist and/or Republican.
Most of Irish-America has no real view on the Troubles era history. And the numbers of those identifying as Irish-American is declining gradually. This has increased in speed in the post-GFA era, ironically, suggesting that Provo murder being publicised enabled many of them to take a side. They often misunderstood the nature of the conflict completely.
An American centric mentality is what they really have. Practically all the St Patrick's Day nonsense comes from the United States and not anywhere on the island of Ireland.
Another one - Guinness isn't actually Irish. Arthur Guinness brought it back from London and he'd be spinning in his grave at it being associated with St Patrick's Day as the colour green only took prominence due to the Irish independence movement from the late 19th Century onwards.
Guinness' descendants also funded the 1914 UVF, so they were Unionists against Home Rule.