111 Comments

• IrelandNorth | Apr 05, 2012, 08:14 AM EDT

  There is a lot less political dysfunction in the 26 county Irish state than there is in the 6 county neo-provincial statelet of Northernised Ireland. Northernised Ireland is a net recipient of British proper (i.e. English/Welsh/Scottish) taxpayers revenue who are fed-up subsidising a post-colonial imperial ego-trip. The Glorious 12th. of July Celebrations, (St. Billy's Day?), are a thinly disguised tribal triumphalist celebration to assert racist sectarian supremacy. A coat-trailing exercise which the British proper view with profound embarrasment. Orangemen used to tutor their young Lambeg drummers: "Remember lads. Every time you beat the Lambeg drum, you're beating a Catholic. So go out there and put your backs into it!" Without the British subvention, Northernised Ireland is an economic wasteland. Maggie Thatcher once refused to pass on European regional infrastructural development funds to NI. When Ulster Unionists showed up at Westminister, she told them 'we' (i.e. the English) need that. So much for the Conservative and 'Unionist' (sic). Party.

• Intercessor | Apr 02, 2012, 04:16 PM EDT

  In the States, St. Patrick's Day is a joyful day, and one of the few days without a lot of negative overtones, unless the obvious problem of some people "drinking too much green beer," is brought up! It's a day like Thanksgiving, when instead of making turkey, Americans have an excuse to make another totally American dish called, "Corned Beef and Cabbage," and by doing so, they think they are celebrating St. Patrick's Day as they do in Ireland! Fortunately for most, religion isn't even part of the picture. Catholics, Protestants and Atheists celebrate next to each other in pubs, in parks and at work (Americans don't get St. Patrick's Day off). In America it's like a mini-holiday to mark the end of a dreary winter, even though we need to attend work and school (there's usually a party afterwards or during the work day). No insult to the Irish, but "Long live St. Patrick's Day in America!" I simply love it!

• abhainn | Apr 01, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

  Since I came from Ireland to live in the United States, I have been pleased and stimulated to be welcomed by Mexicans celebrating Cinco de Mayo, by blacks celebrating Juneteenth, by the Chinese celebrating their new year, and by Indians celebrating the festival of Holi. If any of these fine people waste their time wading through the frightened and insular comments here, I wish to say that not all Irish people are as dour as this lot, and that some of us are happy to see you celebrating Saint Patrick's Day, and we welcome your friendly participation. I am embarrassed by many of the people who share my ethnicity.

• Springfield9 | Mar 31, 2012, 01:51 PM EDT

  St. Patrick's Day is OUR DAY - other cultures get a month. It is a Holy Day and something all Irish blood can rally too. We do not need Korean, Siamese, Serbian, Greek, Russian or Puerto Rican enrichment. Flanery's inspired thinking may be the first signs of mental illness.

• maceinri | Mar 27, 2012, 07:09 PM EDT

  Georgie boy - who are you anyway? As I say, I'm out there for anyone who cares to check me out. It's a pity that a corner-boy fascist like you hasn' the guts to identify himself. But it's hardly surprising.

• kaydog1 | Mar 24, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT

  I'm truly surprised to see this article under Niall's byline. Niall, it is an accepted plank in the Left's agenda that the influences of Western Europeans, Christians, and Capitalists are inherently Evil, and must be either prohibited by law, or at least diluted out. This is clearly spelled out in Black Liberation Theology, as it is in the recently in-the-news Professor Derrick Bell's (Obama's college idol) "Critical Race Theory", as it is also in multiple Communist/Progressive anti-Western, anti-Imperialism screeds. To this end, the Left has a consistent goal to dilute our influence through open-borders immigration, anti-Christian court rulings, spending Western military force ONLY where it will not actually benefit "Oppressive Western Colonizers", and in general marginalizing what we stand for, value, and ARE. Niall, by raising your pen against this, by calling for the St Patrick's Day Parade to continue to involve the IRISH, you are engaging in CounterRevolutionary Thought and your article rises to the level of a Crime against all the disenfranchised proletarians of the world. In short, Niall, I am demanding that you turn in your Democrat Party USA membership card and papers. Also, some nice Korean gentlemen will be by this afternoon to take you to re-education camp.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 23, 2012, 11:29 AM EDT

  Madeinri, in trying to squirm out of the huge faux pas he made in an earlier post, tells us that he considers all children born in Ireland to be Irish. He can consider what he likes, but the Irish people don't agree with him. It's not even a decade since they told Immigration lobbyists like madeinri to go to hell, when they voted 80% to deny automatic Irish citizenship to such children. I am sure madeinri was promoting his hate agenda during that plebiscite. The fact that almost a decade later he either does not know or does not respect the result of that plesbiscite shows him to be either a fool or a fascist, or more likely both. Go study Irish immigration law, madeinri, before you try to propagate your falsehoods to people who might take you seriously. But as long as you use this site to peddle your bigoted lies you'll have to deal with me.

• mark12345 | Mar 22, 2012, 09:18 PM EDT

  Agree with Niall 100 per cent. Keeping us away from political correctness is what sets us apart from others who lean on it like a crutch. We are a much stronger people for not taking ourselves so seriously.

• maceinri | Mar 22, 2012, 09:17 PM EDT

  Poor old George, can't get anything right can you? I can state categorically that we will know how many immigrants there are in Ireland when the detailed census reports are published later this year. We don't have detailed data for intercensal periods and the situation will undoubtedly have changed since 2006, in the sense that there are far fewer immigrant here now (there were over 400,000 then, not a million. Second, you foolishing quote Conor Lenihan, probably the dimmest bulb in the worst government this country ever had, who could not produce a shred of evidence for this stupid comments about the census. The Irish census is accepted and respected as one of the more accurate in Europe. As for the point about children, you choose to misread my point, deliberately. I was not discussing citizenship law, which I know at least as well as you purport to, but simply making the point that I would regard someone born in Ireland and growing up here as Irish irrespective of their ethnic background. It's a pity trolls like you have nothing better to do than spew hatred, but it's typically of people like you, that you haven't even the guts to tell us your real name. Mine is out there, as anything who cares to google me can readily confirm. Hatred, hypocrisy and utter cowardice are not an attractive mix Georgie.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 21, 2012, 03:51 PM EDT

  MadMaceinri is back with his customary mixture of bluster, abuse and ignorance. A month or two back this guy assured us he was an "expert" on migration. So let's test his expertise. First, he says he's an expert on immigration to Ireland, but he doesn't have an idea as to how many foreign migrants there are in Ireland! He was quick to insult (that's what he does) the other poster who had offered a ballpark figure, but he's too ignorant, or cowardly, to put forward any statistics of his own. Madeinri even tells us to look to the last Irish census, even though the Irish government minister responsible for migration affairs admitted that the census was unreliable! But it gets worse. This charlatan madeinri tells us he's an expert on immigration to Ireland, yet he doesn't even know Irish citizenship law. For he tells us that Irish law is similar to that in the US, when in fact it is quite different, following the change in the Irish constition passed almost a decade ago. A baby born to foreign parents in the US has American citizenship, you clown madeinri, but that is NOT the case in Ireland. Don't you even know the most basic facts about the field you claim expertise in? You're a charlatan, madeinri. Explain how come you don't know the basic facts of Irish immigration before you return with your stupid abuse and hate.

• mcbride292 | Mar 21, 2012, 11:48 AM EDT

  Dr Jim and Mr Behrens time would be better spent trying ti extract their heads out of their, well you know what I mean.

• Seanmor | Mar 20, 2012, 09:49 PM EDT

  To make NYC's St. Patrick's Day parade a multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-racial, multi-everything else event would be defeating the parade's primany purpose, which is to comememorate Ireland's patrom saint and to celebrate all things Irish. I haven't participated in that great parade since the late 90s, but I march as a Legionnaire with my fellow veterans in an Upstate parade every Memorial Day. If draft-dodgers, pacifists, military deserters etc. were allowed to participate in our Memorial Day parade, it would nullify the parade's main purpose. When it comes to making St. Patrick's parade more inclusive, I certainly would welcome anyone of any denomination who has an Irish connection. For about 5 years in the 90s, I marched up 5th Avenue as a flag-beared, beside my wife who is a Methodist and her Presbyterian son from her first bmarriage. All Christian denominations in Ireland can claim St. Patrick as part of their heritage.

• RedBranch | Mar 20, 2012, 05:48 PM EDT

  Looking forward to seeing the married GLB&transgenered, anti catholic,anti British, anti Protestant, Democratic Party float sponsored by IC in next year's parade.

• maceinri | Mar 20, 2012, 05:13 PM EDT

  I would have been disappointed if ol' Georgie Boy hadn't turned up again like a bad penny, innumerate as always. As it happens Georgie, Irish statistics on migrants are a good deal more accurate that, say, US ones. The data from the 2006 census are fairly accurate and the results of last year's census will be out towards the end of the year. Only a cretin would use PPSNs as a measurement; but then I rest my case on that point. As for the children of migants, born in Ireland, they as as Irish as I am, just as the children of Irish people in the US are American first and foremost.

• allan07 | Mar 20, 2012, 05:03 PM EDT

  I would like to see a few Sons of Ulster Flute bands and Battle of Boyne Bands marching down New York Fifth Avenue. After all its supposed to be both sides of the religious divide on view. After all is it 20 presidents of Irish descent 19 were protestant and 1 Catholic. So why is the protestant community never shown? Always the Green lot and never the Orange. Loyalist Flute Bands are Great.

• allan07 | Mar 20, 2012, 04:51 PM EDT

  Theres millions of foreigners in Britain, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, and every country in the world. The fact is they are Irish who have left Ireland as it cannot sustain its own population. After over 90 years of Independence and Ireland is a failed state. So much for independence. If the nationalist believe that all Ireland is the solution well that will make it a failed 32 counties instead of 26 counties. Why cant the Irish celebrate their own day in their own country and not force their beliefs onto others. The US belongs to the Native Indians so a National North Amercian Native Red Indian Day should be more important than a bunch of Plastic Paddys behaving like conquering drunken fools.

• Saoirse9 | Mar 20, 2012, 04:25 PM EDT

  This isn't abut political correctness, but about dissolving what little political clout the Irish have here in NYC. If anything, it would be culturally insensitive to insert non-Irish tradition into an Irish cultural event. As pointed out earlier, how ridiculous would it be to see Irish pipers in a Chinese New Year's parade? There are Irish in China...but I think most level-headed people recognize that these parades are celebrations of each ethnicity's individual qualities.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 20, 2012, 03:20 PM EDT

  maceinri attacks some poster who had calculated that there are a million immigrants in Ireland. Of course maceinri offers no better statistic--it's easy to attack when you don't put forward an alternative. I can help maceinri, however. If you calculate the Irish government CSO statistics from say 2000 up to now, you'll find that way more than a million PPS numbers were alloted to foreigners. That doesn't count their children, or indeed the many thousands of illegal immigrants. Now of course a significant number of these foreign migrants left Ireland duing the past decade. Impossible to put a figure on it--maybe 20%? That still leaves a huge number of foreign migrants in Ireland. And you don't need to go by the statistics--take a stroll thru downtown Dublin any day and you'll find yourself surrounded by foreigners, maybe in a proportion of four to one against the Irish. Your eyes and ears don't lie. Similarly for countless towns and cities, Cork, Athlone, Galway etc. So it's a perfectly tenable hypothesis to say there's a million foreigners in Ireland, always with the caveat that Ireland is not the 26 Counties. That would yield a percentage of about 20% of population, which seems quite a reasonable guess to me. Maceinri would do better, instead of attacking someone who gave a good faith estimate of the extent of Mass Immigration in Ireland, to call for the maintenance and publication of good statistics on this matter by the Irish government. There are none. The fact is that right now Maceinri's objection to the statistics remains quite cowardly and senseless. Loomks like he has nothing better to offer.

• Irishiker60 | Mar 20, 2012, 03:09 PM EDT

  What part don't they understand? IT'S AN IRISH PARADE, THEIR CELEBRATION. ONLY FOR THE IRISH. No one else need apply. Let the other folks get their own damn parade. If it's forced on them to allow others to march in our parade, then we should just cancel out the parade altogether. IT'S AN IRISH CELEBRATION ONLY !!

• abhainn | Mar 20, 2012, 02:03 PM EDT

  Niall O'Dowd has missed the obvious fact that Saint Patrick's Day has long been about Americans in general. I am from Ireland but have seen Saint Patrick's Day celebrated all over the United States by people of all ethnic backgrounds. It used to amaze me how enthusiastically Asian, black, and Latin people celebrated something Irish, but I finally understood it is not really just an Irish festival any more, and I am not as insecure as Niall O'Dowd that I am threatened by the joy of such diversity in togetherness. It cannot harm Irish people or Irish Americans to embrace anyone who wants to share their fun. We are all better off together than divided by petty and exclusive territorialities. Irish people are better than that. Saint Patrick would have approved.

• richard cahill | Mar 20, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT

  Hi! Again! Irish American is correctly written without the hyphen. Irish in this context is an adjective not a (proper)noun. In ireland the reverse would be American Irish with 'american' being an adjective. Dick Cahill, Ballymote.

• richard cahill | Mar 20, 2012, 12:05 PM EDT

  Niall, generally I agree with your view on this matter. The however is that we don’t include all Irish expressions of the fabric of our irishness. I don’t mean the regrettable exclusion of Gay Pride. I do include the pre-famine Irish who went to America and contributed so greatly to the subsequent evolution of the USA. I am of course speaking of the Protestant Irish, the Ulster Scots Presbyterians, particularly. This island of Ireland is at peace as you know better than most, so why not seek out these Irish to offer a place in the national (Whole island) celebration. The sight of Orange marchers on St. Patrick’s day might not shock the 21st century viewer. It might be more acceptable than opening the parades to all comers thus diluting the irishness of the celebration. Include all Irish before all inclusiveness. Include all Irish and then we can see the full contribution made to the Revolution, its war and subsequent evolution of the USA. This is what has made the bond between us so strong. Dick Cahill. Ballymote, Sligo. Ireland.

• bogsidebunny | Mar 20, 2012, 07:52 AM EDT

  These articles are only aping what they see in Ireland, itself. The Irish have decided (shazaam) to become a multicultural nation. More Brazilians in Gort, Co. Galway than Irish. 19,000 Nigerians roam the bogs in the hinterland, etc. So why should a parade, which represents the REAL Ireland not include a polyglot of nationalities?

• Towngate | Mar 20, 2012, 05:00 AM EDT

  Niall demands "Irish front and center" and would exclude all others! Does that include all those former Irish who have renounced all allegiance to the land of their birth and are now Naturalised AMERICANS ~ like him!? ~~~ Think on, big fella!

• PiperMac52 | Mar 20, 2012, 01:38 AM EDT

  I totally agree with the article's premise. Political Correctness is killing us. Once Sexual orientation entered into the fray(nothing to do with being Irish)the can of worms was opened.

• Troops4Paul | Mar 20, 2012, 12:46 AM EDT

  Italians have Columbus Day. Mexicans have Cinco de Mayo. Germans have Oktoberfest. This is ours. You are welcome to join us, but not to change it.

• Eamonnca1 | Mar 20, 2012, 12:03 AM EDT

  Falun Dafa and other Chinese groups always have a handful of floats in our St Paddy's Day parade in San Francisco. Doesn't change the character of the parade, just makes it a bit more interesting. It's always going to be a predominantly Irish festival anyway. Frankly I'd be more concerned about how the event has turned into a big booze-up that only serves to confirm our well-earned stereotype as a nation of drunks. I think that this, aided as it is by the alcohol industrial complex, is a far bigger concern than a more diverse parade.

• Murph46 | Mar 19, 2012, 11:14 PM EDT

  PhlutiePhan-Spot on I too have been warning of an Irish backlash,and have even asked Savannah to tell cities how to do St.Patrick's right.I'm stubborn enough to fight it and feel Phlutie Phan feels likewise.

• PhlutiePhan | Mar 19, 2012, 10:58 PM EDT

  Bill Clinton once stated that it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is. What is the real reason for the assault on St. Patrick's Day? If you read exerpts from the book by Jodi Kantor, there is a real agenda involved to destroy for which it stands. African-Americans are 12.6% of the population. The Irish are 12.2% if you add in the 1% Scotch-Irish as Senator James Webb of Virginia. Timothy Cardinal Dolan has voiced real conerns over the nature of the agenda. There is no doubt of the radical socialist roots and the effort to destroy the family as the foundation of society, no doubt at all.

• fnfdesign | Mar 19, 2012, 10:28 PM EDT

  St Patricks Day is for the Irish and I say to hell with anyone who tries to change it.

• claughlinn | Mar 19, 2012, 09:40 PM EDT

  So let me get this one right. St. Patrick's Day parade is to be inclusive. But the Italians keep their St. Josephs Day Parade for themselves and then we have Cinco de Mayo, and MLK parade for Blacks, etc.etc etc. Get real folks - we all have our special day. What do you suggest we dress St. Patrick as on March 17th? HUH?

• mandrake | Mar 19, 2012, 08:34 PM EDT

  Yeah right! Throw in a bunch of Liberal Retards also.

• irishpjk | Mar 19, 2012, 08:26 PM EDT

  Saint Patrick’s Day is about honoring the memory of the Bishop who brought Christianity to the island of Ireland. The shamrock is the symbol he used to explain three persons in one God. It is not about a political party, a sexual preference, getting drunk or having a good time. It should be open to any one that wants to help support the teachings that the good Bishop spread all over Ireland. Anyone who wants to distort the religion or the teaching of Saint Patrick should not expect to be welcomed, you want to do your own thing fine, but do it somewhere else.

• maceinri | Mar 19, 2012, 08:14 PM EDT

  @Irishphotograph: fair enough, I am an atheist, but a respectful one (after all my position on religion is the minority one). I think, with respect, that historians differ as to whether a specific St Patrick existed; they can't agree either on who he was or where he came from. There are texts, such as the confessio, but it doesn't really pin the individual down. I don't think it matters and I did not intend any disrespect at all.

• Irishphotograph | Mar 19, 2012, 07:51 PM EDT

  maceinri you silly atheist. Patrick is no myth. There are authentic written accounts of this man.

• maceinri | Mar 19, 2012, 07:21 PM EDT

  I guess my view would be that this is an issue for Irish Americans in the first place, not Irish people from elsewhere, like me. I found many of the comments on this article interesting and sincere, although one or two individuals are so laughably off the wall and inaccurate (such as the gentleman who thinks there are nearly one million immigrants in Ireland - what is he smoking?) that they needn't be taken seriously at all.

• maceinri | Mar 19, 2012, 07:08 PM EDT

  I can appreciate both sides of this argument, while coming down more on Jim Flannery's side than Niall's. Here in Ireland the parades have been extremely diverse for almost two decades now; I think that reflects the powerful myth of Saint Patrick himself, an immigrant who changed the society he came to. It doesn't really matter whether there were one, two or three persons who got rolled into a single myth, and it doesn't matter that those marching today have a variety of religious background. It's one, simple, powerful way of saying to migrants that they are welcome.

• Murph46 | Mar 19, 2012, 06:45 PM EDT

  Niall I can't believe some of the comments-I don't want to march in anybody else's parade why do they feel the need to march in ours.Where we ORIGINALLY went wrong was allowing politicians to march in St.Patrick's day parades-Now EVERYONE seems to think they have a RIGHT!

• Springfield9 | Mar 19, 2012, 06:43 PM EDT

  I read the articles and the word - amadan keeps floating before me.

• ciaradexy | Mar 19, 2012, 06:39 PM EDT

  In Ireland, we are obviously more inclusive of people who have moved here and have become part of our society. Where do you draw the line? Do you tell the gaelic football playing kids of Filipino nurses that they cant march in the parade with their club because they arent Irish enough? Do you tell that American kid who won the Irish dancing comp in Dublin that he cant march because he isnt Irish enough?

• Mike7571 | Mar 19, 2012, 06:33 PM EDT

  I couldn't agree with you more.

• borefield | Mar 19, 2012, 05:55 PM EDT

  Get over the insane notion to make St. Patrick's Day a celebration of Immigrants. It is Irish, plain and simple.

• ciaradexy | Mar 19, 2012, 05:51 PM EDT

  Hi George 'The Tourist' Dildo, Im still here laughing at your blatant racism. Showed a few of your posts to my Nashville buddies over the weekend. Even they thought youre a hypocrite who cannot see the irony of your own hatred. You, the result of migration into the US complaining about migration into Ireland, a country you're not even from. And for the record, I haven't agreed with anything that Bythebay has said on here.

• Eschetic | Mar 19, 2012, 05:40 PM EDT

  Mr. O'Dowd is talking in code words here and that is a problem that goes beyond the sweet reason he seems to be preaching. "Political Correctness" is, of course, just a goal to do things in a way that is most fair to the most people - it is usually decried most vehemently by those who do not want to do what is clearly right. The Ancient Order of Hibernians have been screaming for years about pressures for "Political Correctness" which were challenging their right to *exclude* IRISH men and women from the Parades they hypocritically claim as "religious" rather than cultural events merely because they do not agree with the others' ideas or (this year) even gender! From the very first St. Patrick's Day Parades held, these were NEVER religious celebrations - they started out as LABOR events at a time when the Irish were still a discriminated against minority - despite using Ireland's patron saint as a *unifying* namesake. If they (the Hibernians)are now getting a response which argues that for the use of city streets and other facilities they may have to be more reasonably inclusive that they might have HAD to have been but for their own bad acts, they brought it on themselves. St. Patrick's Day celebrations *should* celebrate the pride and accomplishment of the Irish - but ALL the Irish. If the organizers don't see that they WILL lose the baby with the bath water - and deserve to.

• catriona59 | Mar 19, 2012, 05:05 PM EDT

  St Patricks Day is a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland. Its wonderful that other nationalities want to help the Irish celebrate, but I think making the parade's add other nationalities is wrong. Each culture in this country has their own celebrations and I don't recall any Irish American groups asking to be involved. There is one parade that every nationality could be a part of and that is the annual Thanksgiving Day parade. That one celebrates the fact that America is a nation of immigrants. I realize we are all one, but there are times it is nice to celebrate where we come from.

• Lucyinthesky | Mar 19, 2012, 04:47 PM EDT

  I agree totally!!!!!

• SingleDonald | Mar 19, 2012, 04:43 PM EDT

  I agree! Italians have traditionally been allowed to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, as are other ethnic groups. They should be pleased to be included, but we should all remember that this is an Irish parade, first & foremost. Italians have their big parade on Columbus Day, and Irish are always welcome to march in it!

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2012, 04:06 PM EDT

  Anyone notice that our resident Mass Immigrationist Ciara Murphy has vanished and we have a new arrival styling himself/herself Bythebay but recycling the same mantras that everyone in Ireland is Irish etc., except any Irish-Americans who happen to be there. Mmmm....

• abbym7180 | Mar 19, 2012, 03:58 PM EDT

  I agree with Niall O'dowd.We get one day a year to celebrate our irish heritage in America.This is a very important day to us.With all do respect to other cultures,you're welcome to toss on a green shirt & go to the parade, & join us for a guinness and a chat,I'm all for that.But to me adding a chinese dragon dance to a st.patty's parade, is like us asking for the potato famine to be included in holocaust rememberence day (we would never do that !) It just dosen't fit.And it's disrespectful. Come join us next st.patty's & have a blast, but it's our irish day. Period.

• MarybethC.P. | Mar 19, 2012, 02:41 PM EDT

  I'd like to see all of our American St. Patrick's Day Parades become more inclusive, all the while retaining their Irish and Irish-American character. I love it that so many [non-Irish]groups have an Irish connection, love Irish culture, history, and arts, and/or feel that the nation of Ireland and her patron saint's day is worth celebrating. But I would like to see a separate occasion to cherish our immigrants to the U.S., perhaps by having "American Patchwork-Quilt Day" and its own parades throughout this country. Any and every group who has come here and brought its own distinct contributions to American society could and should participate in these. Of course, I can't imagine who would be left as spectators for these parades, since nearly EVERYONE residing in the U.S. has an immigrant history and might want to march in such!

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 02:41 PM EDT

  Ireland in fact over the past decade has been planted more effectively than the Brits even managed to do in the Plantation of Ulster, and thus the awesome collapse we've witnessed. Such a huge population transfer into such a small country simply can't be done without widespread suffering within the ingigenous population itself. The greatest problem in modern Europe is as a result of the fall of the Iron Curtain twenty years ago thus freeing 500m million impoverished Eastern Europeans to flee west in refugee numbers not seen since the end of World War 11. And all of these are the poorest people anywhere to whom, for example, the Irish Dole is like Heaven on Earth , all this was awful planning, if it could be called that, by the EU.

• manhattan | Mar 19, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT

  Thank you Niall for explaining so well why the Parade should stay Irish. I would love to hear the response from Puerto Ricans if those naive people asked them to make the P.R. Parade all inclusive. That will never happen nor will there be shirts, hats,cards etc. insulting them or others except of course every St. Patrick's Day the Irish are fair game. That Parade is to show the contributions made by Irish which is remarkable.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 02:32 PM EDT

  No, Melesan, you're wrong. Yhough many Irish today have Norman and Viking antecedents it's still accepted that in fact at most only 13% do and that was a result of centuries -long assimiliation plus the fact that the Vikings, Normans etc assimilated so well because they were of similar North European stock and it was a natural and gradual transition from circa 795 A.D. and involved a process whereby they adopted Irish language, style, customs and religion as we celebrate every St. Patrick's Day. let's face it, all the medical transfer echniques known to man can't transform an Igbo, for instance, into being Irish in a decade, and when you toss nearly a million immigrants in on top of four million Irish in Ireland in less than a decade that's a prescription for economic and social collapse as has happened to Ireland and we're seeing the disastrous consequences now.

• dublinduke | Mar 19, 2012, 02:28 PM EDT

  Bravo Niall and to all who agree that the character of St. Patrick's Day and the parade do not need to be sacrificed on the PC altar.

• melesan | Mar 19, 2012, 02:17 PM EDT

  Does this mean they can't serve no more irish Nachos or the hottest jalapenos I ever had under the name of Irish Nuggets at my favorite pub, Liams? There's no such thing as a pure thing...not even the Irish, they're a combo of Celtic, Viking, and those French guys from Denmark, the Normans, and don't forget the later French. Culture is dynamic, not static. It's on a chair with rollers. All culture evolves especially in today's world that is so small. Adding a few other cultures will not change the essence of it. I went to a St. Pat's party Fri night. Did they have Irish bagpipes, Uillean pipes or however they're spelled? Of course not. They had Scottish bagpipes. Did anyone at the party know they were not Irish bagpipes...of course not. Let's not be purist nor arrogant.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 02:16 PM EDT

  I want Nigerian citizenship to change me into a black Igbo warrior - now see how utterly stupid P.C. is :-)

• rpmschevy | Mar 19, 2012, 02:16 PM EDT

  Boy is this the pot calling the kettle black from Naill? Mr PC himself who broke the law of the United States multiple times now wants to be exclusive? WOW! Side note, I am all for it, but having Naill write about it is incredibly hypocritical.

• carlow98 | Mar 19, 2012, 02:14 PM EDT

  Niall, I believe you and donal1951 are the forces of reason. Well said.

• pugsmom | Mar 19, 2012, 02:05 PM EDT

  I guess when a "Cinco de Mayo" parade includes a marching band of leprechauns playing bagpipes, all dressed in green and sporting shamrocks, THEN I'll be OK with an "all inclusive" St. Paddy's Day........I agree with "hermitTalker" and "fscarlson." The Rose Bowl includes EVERYONE....leave it at that.

• Mousemess | Mar 19, 2012, 02:02 PM EDT

  Aontaim, let each group have its celebration and let it be authentically Chinese, German, Irish, etc. and showcase one culture at a time. We already have the nationally televized huge parade with many colorful floats and marching bands on New Year's Day in Los Angeles that commemorates most ALL THE DIVERSITY OF AMERICA from the American Indians to the pipe bands, cowboys and cowgirls, to the Latinos, the Tex-Mex, marching school and other bands from around the USA and much more.

• RinehartS | Mar 19, 2012, 01:22 PM EDT

  Keep it Irish and keep all the drinking references out too, that offensive and overly P.C. as well!! ... wait. Never mind.

• adrienrain | Mar 19, 2012, 01:21 PM EDT

  Back in the 90s, a Chinese contingent marched in the St Patrick's Day parade here in LA, carrying a 'golden spike' symbolizing how the Chinese immigrants met the Irish immigrants working on the railroads from opposite sides of the country. And they probably carried a bright green Chinese dragon. Didn't bite anyone. We could possible do something similar at Chinese New Year - not a takeover, not a meaningless "Immigrants' Day" just a friendly bit of solidarity. Also In Los Angeles, there is - or was - an organization called MIC - the Mexican Irish Connection, comprised of families in which both ethnicities are represented. And we had a chain of Mexican Irish restaurants, called Barragan's which served Mexican food and Irish stews, etc. Now my daddy grew up in New Orleans - in a section of town completely Irish. You stray into the French sector - you get beat up, or into the Black part of town, etc. (Regardless of religion, BTW). But I grew up in California, and I say CHILL, folks. We don't need an immigrants' day, we don't need to change the character of Cinco de Mayo, or Nissei Day, or Amerigo Vespucci Day (which I as a Catholic School girl used to march in), or St Patrick's Day, either, to welcome others into our circle as friends.

• IrishHeartLass | Mar 19, 2012, 01:21 PM EDT

  I recall growing up being proud of my Irishness, and also being proud to be an American. That was a time before all of this inclusiveness. I will always be proud of my Irish ancestry (from Ulster), I haven't been proud to be an American for a long time. It's pretty F-ing sad.

• carrickcourt | Mar 19, 2012, 01:17 PM EDT

  Right On Niall, to use an expression from my youth in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I think people of Irish extraction should be allowed their day in the sun, as it was in NYC on Saturday. We are all Americans, or North Americans as South Americans like to point out, but we should be proud of the many heritages that make us people of the USA but allow each of us to celebrate whatever the heritage is we came from.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 01:14 PM EDT

  And P.C. language is indeed an ingenious use, or rather abuse, of the English language to plead falsities.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 01:13 PM EDT

  I don't know what "Canadian" is rabbitting on about, nobody has ever been charged with Marxism, accused of, yes, by House unAmerican Activites Committee, but never charged in any court of law. So get your facts right:-)

• fscarlson | Mar 19, 2012, 01:07 PM EDT

  All this "crap" really gets my Irish up.

• snakehips | Mar 19, 2012, 01:02 PM EDT

  Let us American-Irish and Irish be flattered by the fact that the celebration of our culture and heritage is so successful that others want a "piece of the action". Our celebration not only acknowledges our religious tradition, but for we American Irish the struggle of our immediate blood forefathers(mothers)which although not generally unique to the huddled masses that came to America, has specific elements that just can't be expressed by the inclusion of a Chinese Dragon or Salsa Band in our celebration. So, you all are invited to participate in our celebration, but it's not yours, it is our thing. P.S. I'll come to your celebrations if you will have me.... Cheers!

• hermitTalker | Mar 19, 2012, 01:02 PM EDT

  It is ST PATRICK'S DAY, honouring the saint and the Irish who brought the Catholic Christian Faith around the world, and provided labourers, nursing nuns, professors, builders, entrepreneurs, diggers of ditches, creators of art, explorers, film makers and actors and artists, and architects, cardinals and chaplains to armies, Universities and Cathedrals, and a few scoundrels to every nation. We welcome other ethnic groups to join in our parades but object when PC

• AustinBarry | Mar 19, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT

  Oh, my Gawd, the Irish are white! We can't have that.

• Canadian | Mar 19, 2012, 12:48 PM EDT

  I was surprised by MichaelMcGrath's comments about Marxism in PC but after a little thought I realise that he is right. To go one tiny step further, people who espouse political correctness could be counter charged with communism.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 12:48 PM EDT

  The St. Patrick's Day Parades encourage good citizenship, social responsibility, national duty and patriotism - all anathema to the PC Brigade.

• citizen69 | Mar 19, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

  It's a day for Irish of ALL Christian denominations, but even for non religious Irish it's a day to celebrate the forty different shades of Irish-ness. Ireland is not a mono-culture, mono religious island and the parades should always try to express that. (which i don't think it does) While it should always be open to everyone to enjoy, it will always be an Irish holiday.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 12:31 PM EDT

  Of course, CitizenWhy, you'll have local emphases, such as in New York the part the Irish played in nine-eleven rescue, The Fighting 69th etc. And, yes, when you go to University ( me to Trinity College Dublin), you see the woeful inadequacies of professors when confronted with the real world, bless them :-)

• EasyGoingIrish | Mar 19, 2012, 12:28 PM EDT

  MacGregor a little history "The Bagpipe is much used by the Irish. To its' sounds, this unconquered, fierce, and warlike people march their armies, and are encouraged to feats of valour. With it they also carry their dead to the grave, making such a mournful sound, as to force the bystander to weep. " Vincenzo Galilei, 1581

• CitizenWhy | Mar 19, 2012, 12:18 PM EDT

  A multi-cultural parade is perfectly fitting for San Antonio, especially in light of the San Patricio Brigade. In New York the parade is officially in honor of the patron saint of the archdiocese, so groups from minority Catholic schools march. In Boston the parade also is in honor of Evacuation Day, the British having withdrawn from Boston On St.Patrick's Day; thus a Veterans group runs the parade. The parade format should be decided locally.

• CitizenWhy | Mar 19, 2012, 12:14 PM EDT

  All the other groups have their own parades. This professor is an arrogant jerk, making decisions, without any consultation, for those groups instead of letting them run themselves. Typical cultural imperialism - white male professor knows best for everybody. Bah!

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 11:55 AM EDT

  Next the PC Brigade would commence genes transplanting if they could. All this PCing is an essential part of the culture of Marxism, those who adopt it feel that it makes them more "progressive" , you find many of them working in media and the universities. It was introduced to make all the peoples into a big coffee coloured world especially in the USA where it got a grip early on, and was seized on by government - but you don't pacify whole societies by nullifying genetic, hereditary and cultural differences. That way you end up with a homogeneous spiritless blob that does not know what it is or was or will turn out to be. but that's the end target of Marxism, and that's what's in store in a big way for America in the future.

• joan1954 | Mar 19, 2012, 11:50 AM EDT

  In San Antonio, until this year, all ethnic groups took part in our St. Patrick's Day Parade whether they be Asian, Black White or Hispanic. All ethnic groups were at this year's hooley with its music, its dance and its food. The Sheriff's deputies were amazed at how well behaved and well mannered everyone was. We had visitors from Asia and the UK as well as the US visiting us and all were surprised.

• Irishphotograph | Mar 19, 2012, 11:49 AM EDT

  Saint Patrick's Day is about the celebration of GOD bringing Patrick over to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to the One True Faith. Nothing more nothing less. What we have instead is a celebration of Nationality and not Christianity. (2 Corinthians 4:4) "The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God"...Ireland had what's called a Golden Era became a burgeoning land of art and literature, culture. The Land of 'Saints and Scholars'. Ireland had the real Blessing of God here, true Biblical Christianity. Until Roman Catholicism came with its man made religion built around the Good News..(Proverbs 14:34) "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people"....Ireland is steeped in SIN, embracing secularism and a life of godlessness. Where no one fears GOD & you don't fear GOD you are not going to fear Man...The Word for Ireland is & it is the promise of GOD (2nd Chronicles 7:14) "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"

• babajack | Mar 19, 2012, 11:47 AM EDT

  Why can't the "busy bodies" of the world just leave well enough alone?

• Aódh Ó Dréain | Mar 19, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT

  To re-brand the Saint Patrick's Day parade 'Green Day', 'Immigrants Day' or give it any other designation would simply dilute what it actually represents. It is first and foremost the celebration of our patron saint, a religious festival and a national holiday on the island of Ireland. The Irish worldwide have chosen to introduce this tradition to their adoptive countries, not to exclude but in the spirit of inclusiveness to introduce others to Irish culture as well as remembering it for themselves. As it stands all are welcome to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day irregardless of faith, ethnicity or political peruasion. Why try to fix something that is not broken?

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 11:35 AM EDT

  Irish citizenship is admittance to membership of a political entity that the Irish use for now, a State called The Republic of Ireland that is graded as a Junk Economy in the world, a bankrupt society, a failure as a State. Being Irish is a state of being, of birth, of environment, of Irish ancestry, nationhood, heritage and culture. And Irish Americans do indeed share in all of this by their very genes and have every right to claim Irishness that can never be granted on a bit of paper. Can you make an Irishman into a native American with a bit of paper? No more can you make anybody Irish, only destiny and God can do that! This can never be granted on a bit of paper

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT

  Bythebay is gone berserk.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2012, 10:56 AM EDT

  MichaelMcGrath --the Mass Immigrationists in Ireland say that a person becomes Irish the minute they step off the plane at Dublin Airport. The only exceptions are Irish-Americans, who will according to these people never be Irish, and Argentine--Irish, who have less right to return to the country of their ancestors than do the countless Malays, Moldovans and Moroccans who daily flood into Ireland. In fact just a few years ago, three young Irish Argentines of my acquaintance, people who have done more to maintain the language and music of their ancestors than do most Irish, were turned around at Dublin Airport. The forefathers of these talented men and woman had left the Irish Midlands to escape famine and poverty. Their descendents made the mistake of thinking the worthless Irish would welcome them home. The worthless Irish didn't. Even while a never ending stream of Russians, Poles, Africans, Indians etc. were ushered thru Immigration at Dublin Airport, three young Irish Argentines were detained until they were forced on a plane to Madrid and thence to Buenos Aires. The Irish deserve all that is happening to them. They gave away their culture, now they're giving away their country. And they're not even getting well paid for it.

• donal1951 | Mar 19, 2012, 10:54 AM EDT

  Back in the 1980's, my job took me to Milwaukee which has a grand Irish Festival. It also has German, Polisih, Ialian, Mexican and other festivals. While each festival keeps its own identity there are folks, such as myself, who attended Irish Fest and at least one or two of the other festivals, both for the ethnic food and the music. That's as it should be. Corned beef and cabbage was great at Irish Fest, but at the German Festival, I look forward to sausage, kraut and great beer. We were separate, but far from divided, each enjoying the others' offerings. Go Niall!!

• IrishQT | Mar 19, 2012, 10:52 AM EDT

  I am over political correctness. St Patricks day is a celebration to honor an Irish Saint. I am amazed at how many people claim to be atheist or agnostic can celebrate the feast of a Saint ? Now there is some hypocrisy. It is OUR celebration, dont mess with it. We Irish welcome you to join in our celebration but leave our heritage alone. I embrace all ethnic cultures and their fine festivals. I would never expect MLK day, Bastille Day or Cinco de Mayo to change for me. I am beginning to think some people have way too much time on their hands and are by nature PSD. (Professional Sheet Disturbers)

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT

  O'Dowd: I think you're wrong to trace the change in the Dublin parade to "the influence of the American parade". I have attended the Dublin parade--won't do so again--and I don't see it as American in style. Irish friends tell me the real influence in English, Dublin has copied the big Notting parade held in London every year.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT

  Bythebay, your logic is totally flawed. Conferring Irish citizenship on a person does not make that person Irish. No more than the conferring of British citizenship on me, an Irishman, could make me English.

• Niall O'Dowd | Mar 19, 2012, 10:38 AM EDT

  By the bay, you are proving my point The American celebration of Saint Patrick is significantly different than the irish one It celebrates the rise from the coffin ships to the White House to paraphrase it.Are you saying that should not be remembered and celebrated, that we need to mix in other tribal celebrations?We want everyone to enjoy their ethnicity, but we don't want to crash the Cinque De Mayo party. Growing up in Ireland it was an overwhelmingly religious holiday, only with the influence of the American parades have they opened up to a more festive atmosphere and good for them --But it is not celebrating the same history for obvious reasons

• AnPiobaire | Mar 19, 2012, 10:36 AM EDT

  Some thoughts: 1. The Glen Cove Hibernians held our annual parade yesterday on Long Island. Prominent among the marchers were members of the "Spanish Ministry" at one local Catholic parish, St. Patrick's. Representatives from each of 7 or 8 Central and South American countries, often in resplendent native dress, marched behind signs bearing their respective country's names. They were a very welcome addition to the parade, and took nothing away from our Irish identity; indeed they enhanced it by reminding us of our own roots in a very moving way. They asked that the following statement be read from the parade grandstand: “Thank you very much Glen Cove for its generous heart toward the immigrant community.” I certainly would not want to exclude this group and prove unworthy of such gratitude, mirroring as it does the same feelings we Irish Americans have also felt toward America. 2. Irish pipe bands are already a mainstay of all ethnic parades, at least here in the northeast would, and probably do, fit in very well in a Chinese celebration. BTW, the group which got the most attention on Fifth Avenue this year was a wonderful piper’s band from Galicia, the Celtic country in Spain, playing better Irish music than most of the “Irish” pipe bands who, guess what? – play hardly any actual Irish music in the parade (sorry for the “inside baseball” there, but it’s true…). P.S. I love the NYPD pipers, but I can't help but note that the photo of them illustrating this column shows them in British military regalia, and was taken by a Chinese photographer. That's New York for ye!

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2012, 10:35 AM EDT

  The people condemning calls for a non-Irish observance of St Patrick's Day had better avoid Dublin on March 17 from now on. You see, the Dublin parade has nothing of Irish culture in it. Imagine Bastille parade in Paris and there's nothing French about the parade. Or Cinco de Mayo and the parade is full of Estonians and filipinos. Wouldn't happen--nations such as France, Mexico and so on have pride in themselves and value their cultures. Only the Irish think that they are not worthy to celebrate their own nationality. The Irish are psychos--they suffer from truly low self-esteem. That's why the EU can kick them in the face and the Irish reply "Sorry!". There's no hope for them. They have the mind of slaves.

• MichaelMcGrath | Mar 19, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

  The Irish Times is now become a newspaper that Irish people who respect our traditions should not take. It promotes mass immigration that has cost billions into an Ireland that's bust, pushing Irish emigrants in turn on the USA and other countries. And it pushes abortion mainly to have it available for incoming immigrants to Ireland so as to complete the package of making us more civilized like England. It's bad when a country's own media like The Irish Times hates it to the extent that it wants to abort, drive out and supplant.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 19, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

  MacGregor: You don't what you're talking about. The bagpipe or warpipe has an ancient history in Ireland. An observation of the Irish pipers was made by the musician Vincenzo Galilei in a published work titled Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music in 1581 in Florence. Galilei wrote, "The bagpipe is much used by the Irish. To its sound this unconquered, fierce, and warlike people, march their armies and encourage one another to feats of valour. With it also, they accompany their dead to the grave, making such a mournful sounds as to invite - nay, almost force - the bystander to weep." A good strategy is to know something about a topic before spreading your ignorance on it, MacGregor.

• mcdolan | Mar 19, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

  Hear, hear! This 'PC' stuff is getting ridiculous in the extreme - what next, officially change Christmas to XMas because it celebrates a person who inspired the Christian religion?

• macstwo | Mar 19, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

  Why do we listen to these academics, they have totally screwed up our nation....St. Patricks Day isn't about celebrating immigration, whats to celebrate, maybe these clowns should look into the history of the Irish in America, the treatment of these folks was at best detestable...St. Patricks Day celebrates a nation of people,not Americans, and their beliefs and history....for us here, its's a celebration of a singular culture in our society. Here's and idea, lets round up all the academics, load them on barges and sink the barges in the Hudson River.

• CelticQueenUSA | Mar 19, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT

  Drop the "Green Day" s--t and keep things the way they have always been. I am sick of politically correctness. It sucks and removed all kinds of silly stuff from our lives. It also adds quite a bit of silliness to our lives as well. So stand St. Patrick and his Day!!

• colkelley | Mar 19, 2012, 10:21 AM EDT

  You want political correctness in one aspect of life/society then you had better be ready for political correctness to become the only acceptable standard for conduct. Will the Irish one day be at the lead of the Cinco De Mayo parade or the MLK Day parade - I think not. "Inclusiveness" has one meaning in that ONLY groups whose members are mainly white (and usually male) must be forced to have "inclusiveness" and cannot exclude anyone based on race or gender. Minority groups and women's groups can and DO ignore political correctness and inclusiveness on a regular basis - and they are NOT going to worry about their "inclusiveness" including anyone other than their discriminatory membership.

• kcceltic | Mar 19, 2012, 10:19 AM EDT

  St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Americans need to start celebrating this saint in the traditional Irish way. This is the only irish celebration celebrating our native land and culture. I am tired of pasturizing all American holidays to not insult the few. It is time for majority rule to be re-instituted. The majority of Americans claim to be christian so christian holidays should be celebrated for what they mean.

• SusanMcCasland | Mar 19, 2012, 10:12 AM EDT

  I agree. What really gets my Irish up is the fact that there were NO televised parades that I could view in Houston, Texas. The NYC parade was televised but only for that section of the country. The parade in Houston is large but LAME!!! I wanted to see a good parade but alass... none to be found. I actually have to go to YouTube to get what I want. This really blows. I remember as a child watching the parade in person in NYC or later on when we had moved south, on the TV. And then to top off my anger. There is almost no mention of it on any of the new sites I go to except for here. Murph46 has it right. Screw political correctness. I am Irish and proud of it. Why should we have to share our celebration and make it multicultural???

• Daytonavejim | Mar 19, 2012, 10:09 AM EDT

  Amen!

• SeamusMor | Mar 19, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT

  "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end." In the old cowboy movies they used to say "The only good injun is a dead injun!" Now they have to say "indigenous person."

• tundish45 | Mar 19, 2012, 09:52 AM EDT

  Hooey yourself, Mr. O'Dowd, if you actually believe what you say here. Yes, hyphenated cultures, e.g. Irish-Americans, are part of the quilt of the American fabric. And letting them drift and develop as they will is no harm (e.g. expropriation of the Jewish immigrant’s corned beef). But uncooperative local and national tribal politics of the “us vs. them” variety arise where one or more hyphens compete to control the general public purse. “Tribal” meaning unthinking loyalty to an inherited group membership. It is harmful to the public good when celebrations of differences strengthen separations. In the long run the US will be a more open and accepting place when MLK and St Paddy’s and Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo days and all the rest just trigger mattress ads … and parades with Scottish bag pipe bands disrupting them all.

• Sophium | Mar 19, 2012, 09:45 AM EDT

  Spot on, Niall. Thank you. Dr. Flannery should be ashamed of himself----not for including so many other non-Irish in his proposed St. Patrick's Day festivities, but instead for whom he has left out. I heard no mention of drummers from the Ivory Coast, or those in traditional dress from Kenya. What, is the good doctor Afro-phobic?? And what about Malta and Cypress and Hawaii. Is he Island-phobic?? Where are the aborigines from Australia? Does he have a phobia against indigenous groups?? This is positively shameful. Dr. Flannery's vision is not reaching far enough. I can only conclude that he is not PC *enough* and so I will just have to look elsewhere for the more enlightened professor.

• joanxis | Mar 19, 2012, 09:38 AM EDT

  I totally agree with Nial.

• jamieLM | Mar 19, 2012, 09:34 AM EDT

  Agree with Mr. O'D and the other posters. St. Patrick's Day in the U.S. is a day to celebrate Irish heritage and Ireland. German heritage is celebrated with Oktoberfests, Dutch heritage with Tulip festivals, and the Mexicans have Cinco de Mayo, etc. Let everyone do their own thing. St. Patrick's day should be left as it is - for celebrating JUST Irish heritage. All these festivals are already open for others to join the celebration. Butt out, all you PC people and get your own holiday.

• TheOldPerfessor | Mar 19, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT

  Ireland has meant so much to this country that it's not asking too much having one day to celebrate them.

• MacGregor | Mar 19, 2012, 08:20 AM EDT

  Being honest, the St. Patrick's Day festivities are barely even Irish. I mean, besides the color green everywhere you just celebrate SCOTTISH culture while attempting to pass it off as Irish. The Highland Bagpipes and Highland Kilts/tartan/plaid are Scottish and have never been recorded as Irish. The only bagpipes down in history as being Irish are Ullien Pipes which are played at the knee and not in bands.

• bean phaidin | Mar 19, 2012, 07:58 AM EDT

  I agree wholeheartedly with Niall O'Dowd and JHShanahan. In NYC, and throughout the US in parades large and small,everyone celebrates Ireland and the Irish on St. Patrick's Day. In Dublin however it is more of a multicultural event and the "most Irish"participants, in a traditional sense, are the high school bands and the pipe bands from the U.S.

• JHShanahan | Mar 19, 2012, 07:48 AM EDT

  Thanks to Niall O'Dowd for making very good sense in this article about "political correctness" and the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City. I come back to New York to march in this parade and to celebrate the struggles my Irish immigrant family overcame to make a foothold in this land of opportunity. The parade is about the contributions of the Irish in America, and since a lot of that has been in keeping America free, it includes the military units that the Irish have served in with great distinction. It is about the policemen, the firemen and the other public services in New York that were staffed early-on by the Irish. It is about our faith, remembering and appreciating what has sustained us in America for over 250 years. And it is about the Irish clubs, county organizations and the Ancient Order of Hibernians who keep the traditions alive. Thank God for each of them. Other folks should have their traditions -- and celebrate them in ways most suitable to their cultures. I'll stand on the sidelines and cheer. But for St. Patrick's Day, forget about being "inclusive" and "politically correct." It's our day to keep our history and traditions alive and to teach them to our children. Let's keep it that way.

• shannontravers | Mar 19, 2012, 07:36 AM EDT

  Thats the typical American sentiment! POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. It's killing us. St. Patrick's day in AMERICA is a celebration of our IRISH HERITAGE! No chinese, nor korea or english or african but IRISH! It just sickens me that everything has to be politically correct, BULLSHIT! You want your own recognition day vie for it! Leave ours alone!