Irish people in ED?

[hayesgrover]

I've long been a surfer of the EDF, but finally got around to signing up. I pick up a fair few comments from people who must be Irish - how many of us are there out there?

[SeanMacGabhann]

obviously me

[hayesgrover]

I guessed that! And a prolific EDF poster too!

[redrouge]

Me and my entire clan are Irish - but I'm more of a lurker!

[Ondine]

moi aussi (born west cork raised London) but camberwell now.

[SeanMacGabhann]

prolific yes but not top of the shop.. that would be (snip! editor)

i know of a few other Irish around these forum parts - I'll let them declare however

[Bellenden Belle]

My mother was from Leitrim, near Sligo - but I have always considered myself a Londoner at heart.

[Ultraconsultancy]

Mrs UC is irish, but legally canadian. Little UC ergo has triple nationality - it's the future you know!

[dulwichmum]

My mother is Irish, but I consider myself to be Argentinian, simply because I love the colour of their flag...

[wee quinnie]

I, too, am from the old country, (Derry City).

Whenever I head over there I like to declare that I am off to the Provence. (French accent).

[James]

My dad's Irish, from Cork. This is why I am beyond the pale (my skin colour I mean, not my posts)

[Brendan]

My mother is Irish but I grew up in South Africa. Any other plastic paddys out there? Come join me for a drink tonight. I?ll be at the bar in the Castle wearing one of those oversized Guinness hats, drinking green beer and singing Pete St. John songs out of key. ;-)

Jokes aside. As a relative new comer to ED am I correct in assuming that it has historically had an Irish population? I have assumed so because of St Thomas Moore Hall, the Irish shop, Irish Festival etc.

[mockney piers]

Indeed you are right. There was something of an exodus thanks to the celtic tiger as people no longer had to rely on London for jobs and Ireland's economy skyrocketed.

I appreciate that most posters here are first generation, especially having met or indeed engaged to many of them*, but something that's always slightly irked me is why people seem so keen to continue their identification with their Irish heritage and happily ditch whatever other nations may make that up.

Apparently the Irish vote in the US is considered to be over 50 million!! That's one in 6 and 10 times the population of the motherland.

I for one can count 4 nations just back to my 8 great-grandparents, but don't consider myself any of them in particular.

I met a chap in chicago who considered himself irish because he had family who'd gone over 6 generations ago. I bet you he was so diluted he had polish, russian, swedish, german, english and gawd knows what else among the 126 ancestors that made up who he was.

Not sure where I'm going with this......err...i'll get my coat and go off to the bratwurst-haggis-chorizo-jellied eel shop.

*I'm just engaged to the one, just in case that looks like i'm planning polygamy on a grand scale there.

[Brendan]

Mockney - I think in the case of American Irish it is more an identification with their own communities. Although there will always be a nostalgia for the "motherland" as people like to have a sense of heritage and history no matter what country they come from.

[Louisa]

ED has always had a sizeable Irish community. The EDT, Magdela, Castle, Gowlett, Edinburgh Castle (page 12 is it?) the Uplands, the Hope (Peckham) were all Irish pubs at one time, I knew the guys who used to do Sunday and Friday night music sessions at all these pubs in the 90s! Most of these pubs have now transformed or closed since so many Irish people have gone home, and those left behind are second or third generation or even just diluted or mixed into the population so much the Irish identity has been lost. But the St Thomas Moore hall and the Irish shop still keep the tradition of Irish heritage and culture in the ED community. The thing is cultural diversity in cities like Dublin and Cork since the celtic tiger economic explosion, and the easing of the troubles in NI, have all contributed to the lessening of Irish culture in the UK as people have gone home or dispersed. The plastic Aussie or American Irish communities still long for a 'motherland' which no longer exists.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Some good points in there Louisa.

For me, there are aspects of my Irish heritage that I was glad to see the back of when I emigrated, so going to the Irish festival on the Rye doesn't fill me with warm cosy nostalgia.

I do like the Castle, but I am often reminded of the same in there as well

[Louisa]

Sean you can go down Parnell street in Dublin and have a really decent North African meal at a Moroccan restaurant, or any other number of African restaurants based in that part of the city. I think many of the negative or overly nationslitic ideals of 'Irishness' are now only in certain expat communities abroad, especially in the USA. Ireland is becoming a very open minded and much more tolerant society as the years pass, and the recent influx of immigrants from Africa and Europe has increased cultural diversity and encouraged people to respect and take part in all cultures. The loosening of the state ties with the Catholic church have also helped considerably. Events like the St Patricks Day parade in Dublin now include Chinese dragons and African drummers as well fiddlers and traditonal dancers. Maybe if the Irish Festival on Peckham Rye showed some of this diversity, it would help to encourage you back and destroy those negative ideas you have of the nationalistic side of the culture.

[redrouge]

Funnily enough, when I (as a three year old) moved from Ireland to London, we lived right beside The Castle - what an interesting way to spend my first years!

I remember another Irish shop in the 90s... Can't remember exactly where it was though. The current one scares me a little bit. I go in occasionally for Mikados.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Funny you mention that Louisa - I had a Moroccan meal in Dublin just a couple of months ago. Well lush it was too

Unfortunately, both taxi drivers I used spent the 20 minute journey outlining the fact that if Ireland wasn't careful it would go the same way as Londonin 10 years. I asked what he meant and got the kind of answer I don't fancy typing here

Truth is Ireland is a much more vibrant different place than when I left and all the better for it - I love going back

But the proliferation of money has meant that, in my opinion, it has lost some of it's happy-go-lucky nature and people have become a bit more self-centred - an example being they (in this case old friends and family when I go home) blame the demise of some pubs (ooh familiar ring to it) on the Euro, smoking ban and Polish people. When what ACTUALLY happens is that for the first time ever they have enough money to mount a huge telly on the wall and they spend evenings indoors watching the thing

[Louisa]

The wealth has generated some negative aspects on the nature of the people, I would agree there. People have become more consumer based and the wealth which gave them this aspect is what they now blame for the number of immigrants choosing Ireland as a home and the death of cultural icons like the pub.

[Keef]

Glad to see the CPT wasn't on your list Louisa. Might be owned by an Irish lady, but it will never "be" Irish :)-D

[hayesgrover]

Yay! I'm just so happy that I got so many replies to my first post! I love the Irish shop - go there regularly for my Barry's tea. I also have a strange fondness for the Peckham Rye Irish festival - what is it with those wigs the Irish dancers wear now?

Anyway, glad to know there's so many of you out there. By the way, I also consider myself a true Londoner - been here five years and love this place (and ED).

[spadetownboy]

redrouge Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Funnily enough, when I (as a three year old) moved

> from Ireland to London, we lived right beside The

> Castle - what an interesting way to spend my first

> years!

>

> I remember another Irish shop in the 90s... Can't

> remember exactly where it was though. The current

> one scares me a little bit. I go in occasionally

> for Mikados.

its the same place used to be up crystal palace road beside the laundrette before moving to lsl

[Keef]

Wasn't there an Irish shop on Underhill by the Laundrette (that just closed)? Might have been the Lordship Lane people before they took that shop.

[spadetownboy]

it also has its own gaelic football team dulwich gaels formerly harps which plays in the london league and championship