The Irish Don't Want to Hear It
On my trip to Northern Ireland a few years ago, I was careful when speaking to the people of the country not to claim any Irish heritage because evidently that's something almost all Americans do with varying levels of obnoxiousness. One fellow in Derry wouldn't believe me and asked me some of my family names. I told him my grandmothers' maiden names and he marched right over to a monument and pointed at the very name engraved in stone. There are five million people on the island containing Ireland and Northern Ireland. Half of the people in Northern Ireland (the protestants) consider themselves English, but the rest of the island is Irish AF. In America, over 30 million people claim Irish heritage. Fun fact - It has taken Ireland until the 21st century to regain the population it lost to death and emigration following the famine years of the 1840s.
I would love to return to the Emerald Isle to visit the Irish Republic on my next trip. I am fascinated by Irish history and inspired by the struggle of the Irish people to free themselves of English colonialism.
Here are a few random Irish links for you.
Garron Noone on TikTok - one of the funniest humans alive and very, very Irish
Political Tours of Belfast led by ex-prisoners from both sides of The Troubles
A Brief History of Ireland - Neolithic Era to the Troubles | Wilderness Ireland
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