64 Comments

• shuvonn | Aug 16, 2012, 07:21 AM EDT

  The G.A.A. is also a great example of how the Irish Culture is preserved, and growing, it is also moving out onto other continents such as the hurling teams formed by US servicemen after watching the sport on tv at Shannon airport. 100,000 people in Croke Park on the first and third Sunday in September, and thousands involving their children in hurling, camogie, football and handball with clubs all over Ireland, not bad for an amateur sport....

• JimmieM | Aug 14, 2012, 01:38 PM EDT

  Well that is the state of .."journalism" in the United States...mostly ignorant wholly opinionated people trying to force their views on others...

• shuvonn | Aug 12, 2012, 04:10 AM EDT

  Are we really to now claim wk that Irish students dislike learning their language more than any other subject? The one thing I can guarantee you and I would bet the house on it is that even years after an Irish student left school the ONE question they would still be able to ask is where's the bathroom, or may I use the bathroom since that was usually required to be asked in Irish to get to leave the class room. CK is way off the money for the figures who speak Irish on a daily basis and provided no sources for them, and I backed up my figures with a citation for proof, which was over 4 times what he stated, and for half a million less citizens than he claims are in the country, does not include the second language figures which are over 1.7 million or the daily speakers in school. As for my *absurd claim* you have been unable to disprove it perhaps your bias will not allow it of you, considering that Irish is a mandatory subject and you can only not learn it if you have a learning disability, it is spoken on a daily basis in classrooms all over Ireland, even if the students do not like it :-) Their dislike does not prove they do not speak it. You seem to hold the Irish in such disdain, and speak of them with such thinly veiled hatred why even visit Ireland?

• molliepmac | Aug 11, 2012, 11:18 AM EDT

  IrelandNorth and all. Tragically two ongoing attacks are directed towards Irish culture. One from outside and the other from within. A national addiction to American and British media . TV channels are saturated with imported soaps and sport – even encroaching onto TG4 all be it with commentary in Irish. Best selling newspapers are the Brit rags the ‘Irish’ Sun, Mirror and unbelievably the Irish Mail – the Brit version once headlined’ Would you rather be a pig than be Irish?’ The ‘Irish’ editions of these papers give a totally different commentary on Ireland to that of the Brit versions. Incredibly the Irish Mail is supporting a campaign to clean up O’Connell Street ahead of 2016. Keep the natives happy. Gaelscoileanna and TG4 Many complain about the expense involved in promoting the language adding that it is of ‘no value’ in modern Ireland? How many support that view and what are their true motives?

• molliepmac | Aug 11, 2012, 10:07 AM EDT

  sirpeter, Thank you for your response. PayPal the ending of the MPLSI and concerns over the standard of teaching Irish and other languages have all been in the news in Ireland in the last few weeks so are relevant to the topic which evolved on this thread. PayPal claim that the ‘missing’ languages required in Dundalk are German – which you say is taught – and Dutch and Nordic languages...presumably not taught? PayPal seem none too pleased having to cover the shortfall importing 500 staff - incurring costly relocation expenses. Do IDA/Government Departments not discuss with companies language requirements and identify problems? This issue seems to have come out of the blue. Will it go unnoticed by other global companies? Will they be reluctant to locate to Ireland? Surprised at a remark about PayPal paying crappy money are the Irish really that picky. 14% unemployed and according to the CSO 100 a day emigrating. We know Irish is taught for up to 14 school years. You have not given your view as to why it is not more widely used post school years as revealed in the Census data.

• IrelandNorth | Aug 11, 2012, 08:43 AM EDT

  Free Tasmania. Aussies Out! Da guys stock-in-trade is controversy. He's paid to yank people's cranks. PS A Kerryman ordering a beer in a Dublin pub 'as Gaeilge' would be unlikely to be understood by a Polish, Lituanian, Estonia, Nigerian or Chinese barman or lounge girl. Dundalk PayPal staff are foreign because taking calls from their countries of origins, as well as being cheaper to hire than locals. Purest form of colonialism is linguistic. Get people speaking your language and you've got them thinking your thoughts. Many natives put off Irish by vengence with which it was taught by Christian Brothers - yet still love it. Oppression strengthens native tongues. Liberation may spawn lassitude. A Gaelic revival is reemerging with Radio na Gaeltachta (Rad-ee-ooo nah Gale-tacht-ah!)/Galtacht Radio). Telefís na Gaeilge (Tele-fiche nah Gale-geh)/Irish Television. Foinse - Irish Independent supplement, as also with The Irish News. Ach, da meach cúpla Gaeilgoirí ar an ait seo, cen fath nach raibh siad ag scribh dar teachtairi fein as Gaeilge? Beidir go bhfuil cúpla daoine ba mhaith libh é a leibh. Ach "my cuntry(!), Ciara. Cá bhfuil an 'o'. Agus cad atá tú ag smaonaimh nuair a bhí tú ag scríbh seo?

• IrelandNorth | Aug 11, 2012, 07:45 AM EDT

  Didn't see many Aborignals on Team Aussie - Russel!

• IrelandNorth | Aug 11, 2012, 07:43 AM EDT

  A good example of the occupational hazzards of continuing to talk after blowing a fuse in your cognitive faculties. Makes the 1980s virtual-persona 'Max Headroom' seem positively articulate by comparison. Obviously hasn't heard of geography-of-scale. Tasmania vs Australia. USA vs Hawaii. Would his argument not be more correlative with Australia and New Zealand. Wonder how the Kiwi's might respond. Cut back of the Fosters - Russel! Or are MI6 paying him to fly kites.

• seanomelb | Aug 10, 2012, 07:58 PM EDT

  Cad e an t-am cheart woundedknee.BTW bozo latin was compulsory in most secondary schools in Ireland you ignorant fool.BTW the language is the soul of the nation.

• sirpeter | Aug 10, 2012, 05:56 PM EDT

  Hairymollie you are easily perplexed.It's easy to know why PayPal had difficulty recruiting staff.They pay crappy money. And there has always been a language learning system in place in Ireland.My own daughters have four languages.Irish,English,French and German.You need French or German to go to college in Ireland.So kids are learning two languages in primary school/elementary school(Irish and English)And three languages in secondary school/high school (Irish,English and French or German)Also they learn Irish for one reason.It's our native language and you need it for certain jobs in Ireland.Also many people all over the world claim certain parts of their education is of no use to them.That's a stupid argument made by stupid people who have limited interests and a limited capacity to learn.Also some people like Joe Horgan think a load of sh*t.A nation is more than just having a living language.They have traditions,culture,sport,history,religious beliefs,social habits...Hairymollie why are you quoting dumb people?Don't you have any mind of your own? No wonder your confused and perplexed.Now fu*k off and try and understand your own nations mindset.Or even your own mind for that matter.

• CountyKilburn | Aug 10, 2012, 04:51 PM EDT

  Ciaradexy - You are so right. It doesn't matter if you are Irish American, Irish-born or from the Irish Diaspora in Britain, then you are Irish. If not, then you're not Irish. Simple.

• molliepmac | Aug 10, 2012, 03:36 PM EDT

  Ciara – you have asked ‘why bring language into it’. Well its because we are perplexed and are trying to understand the modern Irish mindset.For years many Irish born have claimed that there is no point in learning the Irish language as ' it is of no use to us' and we are told European languages are of more ‘value’ . So why do you think PayPal in Dundalk is having to recruit staff from overseas due to a lack of Irish staff with language skills. Of 1000 recruits 500 are being brought in at great expense. The company say this would not have been the case if the Irish education system already had a language learning system in place. Oh dear! Can you explain?

• molliepmac | Aug 10, 2012, 03:19 PM EDT

  Ciara, Thank you. Once again you have kindly raised the question of who ‘owns’ Irish nationhood. Joe Horgan has also made observations about language and nationhood and how some people think that without a living language you don’t have a nation. That the one sure way to conquer a people is to take away their language and replace it with yours. Losing a language and a nation. Do you think that is happening Ciara? Is anyone else familiar with Joes writings?

• WoundedKnee | Aug 10, 2012, 03:03 PM EDT

  You're right, Mollie. I walked thru Trinity College Dublin a while back and I said to myself "Wow, how come there are so many American girls here?" It was only after listening a little more that I realized that the "Americans" were actually young Irish girls. The accent of the young Irish middle class female is now almost indistinguishable from that of their US West Coast counterparts. Hiberno-English is a bogus invention that the Irish trot forward when people ask what have they done with their native language.

• molliepmac | Aug 10, 2012, 02:36 PM EDT

  Ciara – It is interesting that you mention ‘Irish accents’ . I wonder if anyone has noted in recent years a lot of young Irish are starting to sound like the English and the old Hiberno English speech and expressions are going out of fashion. I am reminded of observations by writer/journalist Joe Horgan that the slight, watered-down Irish accent is most sought-after the one that is in effect most aping an English one.” Professor Terry Dolan, on Hiberno-English also notes the changes in the traditional Irish way of talking English. He puts it down to too much American and UK TV and the intonation favoured by some OAR-T-E presenters.

• Mgvsmith | Aug 10, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT

  To be fair to the Aussie, many Irish fans have described London 2012 as being like a home Olympics because Ireland will never be able to hold an Olympics and this is the closest they will get. Look how many Irish fans there have been supporting the Irish Athletes at the boxing and sailing which is a good indicator. Northern Irish Athletes do actually compete for either Team GB or Team Ireland depending on how the sport is organised on the island. Boxers from North and South always compete for Team Ireland whereas rowers, hockey players or cyclists from Northern Ireland can effectively choose. Rugby is organised an an all-island basis (rugby was codified before Irish independence) and so Ireland competes as one country in rugby. This is not the case in soccer, the FAI having split from the IFA. Irish athletes have been very well received by the British public, the latest indicator of the warmth in relations between all parts of the British Isles.

• ciaradexy | Aug 10, 2012, 10:45 AM EDT

  Its funny how its all the non Irish on this site getting their knickers in a twist! They were talking about my cuntry not yours folks! They werent suggesting the Brits take over the US again ffs! Why bring the language into it? People hear our accents and know where we are from. Lads, try commenting on issues that affect Americans like your gun laws or your rapists.

• molliepmac | Aug 10, 2012, 10:21 AM EDT

  It is worth looking at the Irish language outside of the Republic. 1. The UK Census 2011 shows about 104,000 Irish Gaelic speakers in Northern Ireland. 2 How many in England I’m not sure but there are Irish language classes at Irish Centres as well as an Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University also at a couple of London Unis and Cambridge. Thousands of speakers in the US too. 3. This was reported by the BBC but I doubt it got much publicity in the Republic ;- A report Professor Vani Borooah of the University of Ulster ‘ Irish Speakers Have Head Start in Jobs Race ‘ -14th January 2010

• WoundedKnee | Aug 10, 2012, 09:11 AM EDT

  Shuvonn: You neglected to point out that all research shows that many if not most Irish students dislike learning the language. And you also neglected to point out that most of them leave school after all those years "speaking the Irish language" (in your utterly absurd claim) and still couldn't ask you what time is it or where's the bathroom.

• WoundedKnee | Aug 10, 2012, 09:07 AM EDT

  CountyKilburn: You're on the money with your figures. I'd say they were pretty accurate. For many reasoons, it's too bad that the Irish abandoned their ancient language. One of these that is not often mentioned is that if Irish were still the lingua franca all those immigrants flooding into Ireland would have to learn it. So, say an Ethiopian talking to an Estonian in Dublin would have had to do so thru Irish. In that way Mass Immigration would actually have strengthened the language, giving it new numbers and vibrancy. But of course we know the reality; when an Ethiopian asylum seeker addresses an Estonian migrant worker in Dublin they communincate in English. The foreign migrants even mention the fact that Ireland is an English-speaking country as one of the motives for their settling the country. Thus Mass Immigration is like a killer hovering over a patient's bed with a pillow in his hand. The killer is going to stifle the patient to death, just like Mass Immigration is going to finish off a language that is already at death's door.

• conorsmom | Aug 10, 2012, 08:59 AM EDT

  This is so insulting its almost funny! Obviously this man is a fool and not worth going on and on about. Not the sharpest TOOL in the shed!

• shuvonn | Aug 10, 2012, 08:46 AM EDT

  I guess you do not consider daily Irish lessons in school as speaking Irish on a daily basis? I do, it well qualifies as daily Irish speaking. And since Irish is a mandatory subject for the majority of students, that is well into ten percent, I never stated it was the main language of communication, not to forget that many children make their yearly month long pilgrimage to the gaelteacht and they have to speak Irish daily. Your figures are way off according to Wikipedia 94,000 on a daily basis as well as 1.7 million as a second language. I personally know three families alone living in Dublin that speak it IN and OUT of school on a daily basis and it is the language that is spoken in their homes daily as well as their drivers liscence, credit cards and passports in Irish. A little FYI for you, there is not 5 million in Ireland, there is 4.5 million, but facts are not your thing CK....

• CountyKilburn | Aug 10, 2012, 08:03 AM EDT

  Why do people keep saying that 10% of people on Ireland speak Irish? There are around 20,000 native speakers in the Gaeltacht speaking the natural language, not Gaeilge (the artificial standard). There are 50,000 Gaeilge speakers (most 2nd language). So 70,000 out of 5 million, that's...um....10% isn't it?

• samsams | Aug 10, 2012, 07:02 AM EDT

  You really have to be immature and a bit of an eejit to rant about a subject you admit to knowing nothing about, especially when it's politically loaded like that. Dude, you're the one with the union flag dominating your own national flag and Queenies face on your currency, are the aussies not more suited to join forces with team GB? Anyway, maybe he's learnt something from the backlash he recieved and the fact Mark Chapman (the other guy in the picture) refuses to work with him ever again.

• WoundedKnee | Aug 10, 2012, 06:34 AM EDT

  seanomel: "Latin was a must in high schools in Ireland when I was in attendance". You went to a hedge school, right?

• shuvonn | Aug 10, 2012, 06:05 AM EDT

  Katie Taylor is half English based upon her fathers birthplace? But born to an Irish woman in Ireland beats that hands down imho Interesting observation about winning more medals if we joined up with GB, sure team GB is joined up with every colony they raped, pillaged and robbed blind, ten percent of the British Athletes were not even born in GB, should they too be claimed by their country of origin?

• Curitiba | Aug 10, 2012, 04:14 AM EDT

  Molliepmac: couldn't have put it better myself.

• Curitiba | Aug 10, 2012, 04:02 AM EDT

  That's beside the point, seanomelb. I am pretty sure Dublin is not entirely populated by Kerrymen. I believe there are still some native Jackeens still living there, but I am sure that you will disprove me.

• seanomelb | Aug 10, 2012, 02:25 AM EDT

  Curtisjohnson Latin was a must in high schools in Ireland when I was in attendance as was english and Gaelic.

• curtisjohnson | Aug 09, 2012, 11:57 PM EDT

  The language, which was nearly as extinct as Latin at one point, cannot be expected to be revived when the anglo oriented institutions dominating Ireland owe their existence to the exploitation of post-colonial self hatred. It's a shame as, in contrast to the creole english toungue, Irish is a relatively pure language. The sad irony is that prior to the criminalisation of education by the british terror state, common Irish people not only retained their own language but many were conversant in Latin and Greek (this is even acknowledged in english colonial records).

• seanomelb | Aug 09, 2012, 11:17 PM EDT

  ContyKilburn a stupid post. Curitiba if a Kerryman walked into a dublin pub and asked for a pint in Irish the barman most probably would be a Kerryman and oblige.

• molliepmac | Aug 09, 2012, 08:04 PM EDT

  THE IRISH INDEPENDENT. David McWilliams Wednesday October 03 2007 For years Ireland survived on emigrants' remittances. The Irish balance-of-payments figures in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and into the late-1960s, reveal that the cash inflow from emigrants sending money home kept this country afloat

• molliepmac | Aug 09, 2012, 07:43 PM EDT

  Irish haters? THAT IS RICH. No the diaspora have been Irelands champions in the UK and US and elswhere since the foundation of the Republic. Who supported the State financially – the remittance men and women as described by David McWilliams sending hard earned money home since the 20s to the 80s. After just 90 years of independence the Republic is now run by the EU and IMF. Jobs provided by US companies. The Republics shopping centres full of British shops, M& S, Debenhams, Boots, Frazers. All the profits going to the UK. The “ IRISH HATERS” as you label us did not create this situation. The present situation -look up David McWilliams – “diasporas soft power will fuel our future” Regarding Irish language. 90 years of independence but no Dublin Gaeltacht. However Belfast DOES have a Gaeltacht – under ‘British rule’. Gaelscoileanna…..now in all 32 counties..but it seems to be driven by parents not the State. WHY?

• CountyKilburn | Aug 09, 2012, 06:44 PM EDT

  Well done that man! I think it's a great idea if Ireland rejoined the Great Britain team. We might win more medals that way. After all, Katie Taylor is half-English - what a wonderful symbol of synergy of what our two peoples can achieve when we work together.

• Curitiba | Aug 09, 2012, 06:26 PM EDT

  How would we know if your comment made sense or not, TisEyerish? You never put it up for scrutiny, so what exactly was the point of your post?

• shuvonn | Aug 09, 2012, 06:24 PM EDT

  Is that why there are over 300 gaelscoils in Ireland with waiting lists wounded ego? Not ONE person who responded has claimed that the Irish have been forbidden to speak Irish for years, yet you and tg have lied about that, why is that? Big deal you claim you speak irish and recall ONE flight from Ireland to the US or back , who knows and who cares, if that is the truth or not?? way to go being the arrogant, ignorant typical stereotypical fat ass loud mouth yanks we all know you can be, way to go, gold medal for you.

• TisEyerish | Aug 09, 2012, 06:18 PM EDT

  I was going to comment on this article...but after reading all the gibberish spewed in other posts, I decided to keep my comments to myself...what a bunch of uninformed, lunatic people!

• Curitiba | Aug 09, 2012, 06:10 PM EDT

  Correct, Towngate. The revival of the Irish language has been absolutely pathetic. A Kerryman cannot go into a pub in Dublin and order a pint in Irish without being looked at like he is an eccentric. In his own country. 90 years to get 10% of the population using Irish is not exactly something to boast about. All they have managed to do is turn it into the language of snobbery and elitism. A language is not a living language unless people can address random people within their country and get a reply in their own language. It is not a living language if you cannot use it for commerce. But those in charge of the "revival" will accept no criticism of their methods. However, I am led to believe that the one place where the language is being revived successfully, due to an overwhelming interest from Irish people is the USA. Sadly, we do not have the facilities here in the UK to enjoy such a revival ourselves. All the best teachers have gone Stateside.

• seanomelb | Aug 09, 2012, 05:55 PM EDT

  The Irish haters and driveling west Brits are having a field day today.They are a bunch of ignorant morons. BTW a Uighur Would probably not tell a Canadian from a Yank or a South African or Irish or British and so on you ingrates.

• Towngate | Aug 09, 2012, 05:07 PM EDT

  hjolley @ 02.58: Well; nobody has been 'forbidding them' for over ninety years now - and they still can't, don't or won't - speak their 'ancient language' !!! " Ass Gael-ga " - more like!

• WoundedKnee | Aug 09, 2012, 05:03 PM EDT

  Very hard to make sense of some of these posts. Shuvonn appears to be saying--and it's very hard to decipher his/her meaning-that Pakistanis have to be admitted to Ireland ..."because they are members of the EU". Shuvonn, maybe you want to rewrite that--are you telling us that Pakistan is a member of the EU? As regards your lie that "nearly ten percent speak Irish on a daily basis" you should be ashamed of trying to peddle sucbh a falsehood. Only an imbecile would expect us to believe that. Though it's typical of the Irish. I remember reading an Irish language newspaper on a flight back from Ireland a few years ago. The Irish people seated beside me were fascinated that an American could read Irish. That's fine, but then they began to tell me how most people in Ireland spoke Irish, and that those who didn't all loved the language. What fools. If they had thought a second they would have realized that the last American you want to lie to about Irish is an American who speaks Irish. He can smell the hog sh1t a mile away--he knows the reality of the Irish language in Ireland. It's dying, and it is the Irish themselves who have killed it. All the whining posts about the Irish being prohibited from speaking Irish--first of all, historically they're garbage, but even if they were true, who's stopping the Irish today from speaking it? So please, Irish, stop whining when someone takes you for British. Just what is the difference anyway? You guys drink more?

• Curitiba | Aug 09, 2012, 04:48 PM EDT

  Any moron, shuvonn? I'll locate a few and take a straw poll, then I'll get back to you.

• shuvonn | Aug 09, 2012, 04:13 PM EDT

  The Irish abandoned their language? Your ignorance is again beyond belief. In fact nearly ten percent speak Irish on a daily basis, and in fact gael scoils (irish schools for the ignorant like wounded ego) have waiting lists. This was never about abandonment, this was about a language forced upon a population that did not have the heart to fight. As for the Pakistanis in Ireland, we are again paying for the colonial powers all over the EU who raped and pillaged, plundered the natural resources and then what do you know, some of the natives followed them home and NOW Ireland has to take them in because they are members of the EU even if we never benefited from them..... you are ignorant beyond belief.... As for the commentator? Maybe Australia should compete for GB? They are still in the commonwealth!

• shuvonn | Aug 09, 2012, 03:56 PM EDT

  Curitiba your ignorance is beyond belief, it is not hypersensitive to want to be recognized as the nationality you are rather than the ignorance of the person who cannot tell the difference. Any moron would know that Korea is a different country than China, and if you don't it's not anyone's fault but your own.

• WoundedKnee | Aug 09, 2012, 03:52 PM EDT

  "It seems very Anglo, perhaps it springs from deeply rooted post colonial feelings." Good basic pychoanalysis, Mollie. For a fuller study maybe he should go see one of those hundreds of Pakistani psychiatrists that the Irish have imported!

• molliepmac | Aug 09, 2012, 03:05 PM EDT

  Ancavker ; Do you think sirpeter really is a Nationalist….? I wonder why he gives himself the title. Does he hold the title as a British knight or baronet. Seems strange for a supposed republican to selfstyle himself in that particular way even if it is meant to be tongue in cheek as a jest. It seems very Anglo, perhaps it springs from deeply rooted post colonial feelings.

• Curitiba | Aug 09, 2012, 03:03 PM EDT

  WoundedKnee: Indeed. I suppose if you spoke English as a second language, you would be at pains to emphasise your native language, but if you haven't spoken a word since school 10 years ago, it's a bit hard explaining to culturally unaware people why you are not English. The Australians get this all the time, especially as their dialect is based on Cockney English.

• KevinKehoe | Aug 09, 2012, 03:02 PM EDT

  [1]Ceartu, Correction, the Dutch the Finns and most of the rest of Europe while they have all had there fair share of troubles over the years. Wars, invasions etc, True they do speak there own language and many use English as well, fair play. But its unjust to say we have abandoned our native tongue. To my knowledge no other Europe nation have been occupied and had there culture and national language oppressed at the end of gun barrel or sword for over 800 years. The native tongue survived strongly in remote parts of Ireland through all of this, they are now called the Gaelacht’s. The Irish language is taught in all schools, is on all road signs, all government documents, theres excellent Irish TV channels and radio and lots more.

• KevinKehoe | Aug 09, 2012, 03:01 PM EDT

  [2]While in the modern world we will use English as its necessary a lot of effort has gone over the years to preserve our native language and culture and is ongoing. This is perhaps why we are so passionate about our identity and always will, this is who we are. While I’m delighted at our now good relationship with our neighbours in Britain, thats the way it should be good neighbour’s but on equal terms. Dá bhrí sin nach bhfuil muid ag whining ach dúshlánach dúinn a aithint le haghaidh a bhfuil muid "Gaeilge agus bródúil as é". [ Thus we are not whining but demanding we be recognized for who we are "Irish and proud of it".]

• hjolley | Aug 09, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

  Wounded Knee, you are as stupid as Barwick! The Irish didn't "abandon" their native tongue and "take up" the english language; they were forbidden to speak their own. No wonder they are hypersensitive.

• rosegibson | Aug 09, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT

  I think Russell Barwick is an ignorant gobshite, If Tasmanian's could rule themselves they would, I suppose most Australians would claim gold if an Aborigine won the medal , otherwise they refer to them as drunks, I would like to see Barwick's family tree, I bet he is decended from the Irish who were sent to penal colonies in Oz and built up Oz with all the other emigrants

• KevinKehoe | Aug 09, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT

  And Barwick hosts one of the biggest shows on Aus TV. ? what a Dingo and dump idiot. How thick idiots like him get jobs in the media is beyond me, then again come to think of it Fox news in the States is as bad.

• WoundedKnee | Aug 09, 2012, 01:46 PM EDT

  Curitiba: "the Irish think that everyone on Earth must be aware of their hypersensitivity". It' s hard to take this hypersensitivity seriously. The fact is that language is one of the prime markers of nationality. Finns speak Finnish, Dutch speak Dutch etc. Of course there are many settler societies such as New Zealand, Argentina, USA etc. where a language is inherited from the colonial power. But in those cases there was no other language available. In Ireland there was, a language that had been in place some 2000 years. The Irish abandoned this ancient language and took up English. They thus have a lot of nerve whining if outsiders think they're English.

• Curitiba | Aug 09, 2012, 01:34 PM EDT

  I realise that the Irish think that everyone on Earth must be aware of their hypersensitivity that they are mistaken for the English, but I can assure you that many people in faraway countries such as Korea and China are not aware that Ireland is distinct from Russia, never mind England. Some of them have never heard of Ireland. Think about it. Why would they be aware that there is a difference between Ireland and England when most Irish people are not aware that there is a difference between Xingjiang, Tibet and the rest of China. I don't think your average Uighur would follow if some Irish bloke was going red in the face at him because the Uighur called him English.

• cillowen | Aug 09, 2012, 12:55 PM EDT

  BarDick is a moron as most of his ilk are. No sense of anything but with a dierraha of the mouth problem. Convict twitcher switcher.

• 5454pawz | Aug 09, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT

  To quote American comedian Ron White-----"you just can't fix stupid".

• Stiofain | Aug 09, 2012, 12:31 PM EDT

  He is just stupid.

• padraiginrua | Aug 09, 2012, 11:51 AM EDT

  Better still, why don't Aussies compete for Ireland? A great deal of them are descended from Irish who were transported by the Crown

• Rball30 | Aug 09, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT

  What the Daily Telegraph did was a fact checking error and they appologized. What this guy did was make a concerted effort to cal Irish people UK'ers which is an insult to both countries. Not because of any issue with each other even, but would he want to be called out for not being a New Zealand resident?

• Kilsally | Aug 09, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT

  Let`s not forget Northern Irish people often have a choice of competing for Team Ireland or Team GB & NI although it depends on the way the sport is organised. some sports in Northern Ireland have their own NI association, other an all-Ireland association and others again have UK wide associations which organise in NI and you can get a mixture of two or all three or just one of them - ie boxing is all-Ireland so you have no choice, its Team Ireland but cycling and rowing Northern Ireland athletes competed for Team GB - the Chambers brothers from Coleraine, Alan Campbell from Coleraine all won medals for GB in rowing, Wendy Houvanaghel competed for GB cycling

• ancavker | Aug 09, 2012, 10:33 AM EDT

  wounded: I have never heard sirpeter saying that someone from the north of Ireland is not Irish. In fact I believe that he is an Irish nationalist. Ciara on the other hand is a different story.

• navan004 | Aug 09, 2012, 09:41 AM EDT

  Using that dingbat's own argument -- Why aren't Australian athletes competing for GB, they are part of the Queen's Commonwealth ffs! Why does the media give these idiots a mic in the first place?

• stephendoyle | Aug 09, 2012, 09:37 AM EDT

  You have people from all over the world competing for countries rhat are not their own. They are like mercenaries fighting for the highest bidder. If they are not good enough to make it in their own country they move on to another that will have them. At least the Irish oloympians are from Ireland. And as for the Irish playing under a British flag, the man is clearly dilusional and is in serious need of psychiatric help.......

• WoundedKnee | Aug 09, 2012, 08:45 AM EDT

  An interesting parallel to this is that some people in Ireland (we even have some here e.g sir peter, ciara dexy (where she gone?) try to convince us that someone born in Belfast is not Irish. These Little Irelanders would therefore resent the two young boxers from Belfast --bronze medallists at least, at time of writing--embracing the Tricolor and proudly proclaiming their nationality. Racists like the Dopey Duo Peter Dexy think that someone from Belfast is not Irish, but people from Poland, Burundi, Tanzania, Estonia etc etc are!