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Irish community in Britain needs to be more like Irish Americans

DONAL THORNTON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, February 22, 2010, 8:27 AM

Updated Monday, March 8, 2010, 4:31 PM

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The Irish community in Britain needs to exert more political influence like their Irish American counterparts. The statement was made at an Irish unity conference in London, which was organized by Sinn Fein.

According to Sinn Fein, unification is "realistic and feasible" and can be achieved "within a meaningful time scale."

100 Irish emigrants and second generation Anglo Irish attended the conference.

According to former Labour Northern Ireland Office minister Lord Alf Dubs, "The Irish community in the U.S. has a lot of political clout , why is it that the Irish in Britain has much less? It really should have more political influence".

A 2001 UK census stated that 642,000 people in England and Wales listed their ethnicity as Irish, and a third of those were born outside of the Republic of Ireland.

Census regulations have changed and it is expected that the numbers claiming Irish ancestry in Britain will greatly increase in the 2011 census.

The conference explained that this change would allow the Irish to lobby for more investment at a local level.

The Federation of Irish Societies has started to draft an "Irish in Britain manifesto" for the upcoming elections.

According to the conference, the troubles and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, prevented the Irish from influencing political power in mainland Britain.

Chairman of the Irish Council of County Associations in London, John Connolly said that "the young are no longer terribly interested in them."

Gus Casey of the Irish Council of County Associations said, "We need to be able to put our case here. The Irish community should have representation where it matters."

Unite trade union official Jim Kelly said there is no " political organization to take forward political ambitions. It is no longer Labour."

Nora Kellett of the Luton Irish Forum said that the Irish should engage with British Muslims.

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kickstar | Feb 26, 2010, 04:15 PM EST

According to the conference,Which is being Hosted by Sinn Fein "the troubles and the Prevention of Terrorism Act", Well of course we know Sinn Fein had nothing to do with those two items, "Nora Kellett of the Luton Irish Forum said that the Irish should engage with British Muslims". Why??? Why not engage with British Jews, At least they are not intent on the destruction of the Nation of infidels. I predict that there is no one reading this story who will ever se a re-unified Ireland.

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McNabb1966 | Feb 23, 2010, 08:03 AM EST

The answer to Watchman's question lies in the different cultural and historical realities of the United States and England. The Irish in American have adapted to life on this side of the Atlantic while the Irish in England adapted according to the realities over there. So the difference lies not in who they or what they represent but where they are and what problems they've had to cope with. "American" is not a race or even an ethnicity. Therefore it is perfectly possible for an American to be proud of his or her citizenship and ethnic heritage. On the other hand, "English" has been viewed as an ethnicity that is different from the Irish (Anglo-Saxon vs. Celtic) and until the 20th Century was even considered to be racially different. Therefore in England there has always been less (basically none) of a middle ground as there was in the U.S. One either had to stay totally "Irish" and be treated like a interloper or "the other" OR one could go all the way and adopt a "British" identity. So the choice has been: be ostracized or be assimilated. Nothing in between.

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Ajreaper | Feb 22, 2010, 07:53 PM EST

LOL, hasn't the Irish community in the U.S. had a couple of hundred years to morph into "100%" Americans as you call it? I think you confuse our nationality with our ethnicity.

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Rebelforce | Feb 22, 2010, 04:58 PM EST

Where did watchman get the crazy idea that you have to jettison your Irish ancestry in order to be 100% American? Why the very idea of such a thing is downright un-American.

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manhattan | Feb 22, 2010, 01:54 PM EST

Mr. Watchman, no one loves America more then those of Irish decent but we are very proud of our irish heritage and will continue to call ourselves irish americans. I love how that annoys you. The irish in Britain had to be low key because of the prejudice against them.

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Watchman | Feb 22, 2010, 11:54 AM EST

I note that you refer to "Irish-Americans," but the "Irish community in Britain". Is this because you cannot accept the idea of Irish people morphing (perhaps murphing) into Brits, which is in fact what has happened for centuries? No one ever called Jim Callaghan or Denis Healey Irish-Britons (still less Anglo-Irish) precisely because, as politicians, they saw themselves as 100 per cent British. How long will it take, do you suppose, for the Irish community in the United States to become 100 per cent American? Until the Twelfth of Never would be my guess.

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