Barry Manilow dismayed at how his Irish roots were denied

If we eventually make contact with extraterrestrials,and we ply them with drink, I wonder how long it will be before they claim Irish heritage!

Good call wdwrkr371. I thought Bythe bay was English with telling me to move on from the past and then on another post attacking America. He is a good of example of the English trying to cover up the hideous worldwide rampage history and not having the decency to apologize. I want every history book to be corrected by deleting the words Potatoe famine and replacing it with "English induced genocide on the Irish". In addition, the period prior to the "English induced genocide on the Irish" was the decades long kidnapping of millions of Irish by the English to be sold into the slave trade. This is not to be found in most history books and needs to be added. Queen Elizabeth 1 sanctioned this dispicable act where hundreds of thousands of families were divided up after being sold off in slavery never to see other family members again. Most of the Irish slaves were shipped off to brutal climates that they were not used to and many died of heat prostation and disease/malnutrition. This was done to keep the Irish population at bay and made the English very wealthy. Reparations are in order. The English committed atrocities in every country worldwide they colonized (a nice word for we're stealing your raw material and enslaving your people).

Hi "RedBranch" - The Good Friday agreement allows for automatic British citizenship of persons born in Northern Ireland (the "Six Counties"). As the Republic of Ireland is a sovereign nation, it's citizens cannot automatically also be citizens of another sovereign nation. One can, of course, apply for citizenship of any other country, but in order to be successful one has to fulfill the requirements necessary for success in that application. I trust this answers the question? By the way, For the purpose of my answer, in my use of the term "sovereign nation", I am totally ignoring the fact that countries within the European Community are subject to decisions of the European Court - which, of course, dilutes "sovereignty"). That's for another day and would lead to World War 3 ..... and 4, 5, 6 and 7 on these pages! Best Wishes, Éamonn, Dublin.

Bythebay you don't belong on this board go find an Englishcentral to be part of, on here talking out your arse rubbing salt in the wound of the one thing we from are Ireland are still very conflicted over, through the good friday agreement we try to put our divisions aside even though we have to push feelings deep down, and you on here constantly provoking every day waving a union jack in our face has the opposite affect of sowing peace.Stop please we now know your position so stop please.

RedBranch - Pardon me jumping in here with this official answer. The Minister for Foreign Affairs was asked “if (inter alia, pursuant to the bilateral GFA) he will identify all avenues to British citizenship that are open to the Irish citizen” (Dáil Éireann “Written Answers, 19th January 2010”): The Minister’s reply was “The (Good Friday) Agreement does not in itself confer citizenship upon any person. Rather, it binds the (Irish and British) Governments to continue to recognise the British and Irish citizenship entitlements of the people of Northern Ireland (including in the event of any future change of status) and further, to continue to recognise dual citizenship for such persons. [My aside: there is no reciprocal reference to Irish citizens having a dual right to British citizenship in the GFA]. Eligibility for British citizenship is a matter for the relevant British authorities and questions relating to British citizenship should be addressed to them.” I doubt that would bother Barry Manilow at all, atall atall.

cillowen, minor point , the plural of goy is goyem which refers to any non-Jew whether Irish, Kenyan or Japanese. Let us take the right lesson from this story, bigotry can leave scars, but healing can come about if one tries. It looks like Barry Mnilow tried and succeeded beautifully.

Eamonn help me out here I believed, perhaps wrongly, that as a result of the Good Friday / Belfast Agreement 1999 all Irish citizens were entitled to apply for UK citizenship. Something about parity of esteem. Am I correct?

Yardleypa, I am not a fan of Barry Manilow either but "Copacabana" is a superb dancing song. While I don't think Manilow wove in any Great Famine motifs into the number, I am confident some of the creative, hurting souls here can jemmy some references to potato blight into the conversation.

Jesus... even in a story about Barry Manilow people can still bring up the famine & the Brits! :-/

garbo55 - his father was half-Irish, not full - that's what I meant about him being slightly confused

Such a lot of anti-British and anti-American undiluted hatred on the board. Some of you just turn any subject into a hate-rant. I really would hate to have to come home to YOU in the evening - all foam at the mouth and glazed eyes, screaming "yiz are ALL terrorists" (except the REAL terrorists, OF COURSE!). Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

"JacersAgain" You say that I am correct only "up to a small point" when I say that "CitizenWhy" is incorrect in his statement that "all Irish citizens are automatically British citizens". You then go on to explain, correctly, that all Irish citizens BORN BEFORE 1949 are entitled to opt for British citizenship. By extrapolation, that very obviously means that all Irish citizens born after 1949 are NOT British citizens. All born after 1949! And you call that "a small point"!?! The actual regulations are quite complicated, in that individual cases require study and that is the reason I did not elaborate in my original statement - which was that the statement of "Citizen"Why" is incorrect. It IS incorrect. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

In Jewish culture, the mother's line carries the Jewish identity. That means if a person's mother is Jewish (even if the father is not), that person is considered Jewish; if it's the reverse, then that person is NOT considered Jewish (unless they undergo a formal conversion, just like a total non-Jew would do). It's been this way for centuries, I believe.

I wonder if his mother's parents were as concerned with his father being Irish as they were with him being not Jewish. Jewish families are often very protective of their culture as you can well understand.

The US is actually the biggest terrorist country in the world.The US killed more people than any other, just some include civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kosovo, Vietnam, Laos, Lebanon,Libya, Korea, Japan - where you murdered and scarred millions with your A bombs..... You're the terrorists.