[blue_cobalt]

Considering Ireland used to be part of the UK, are Irish people really foreign? Or are they less foreign than people from other countries?

[The Exiled Dub]

I am Irish living in the UK, and sometimes I do feel foreign here. But in reality, all the people of these islands are pretty much from the same stock.

[5th Horseman]

They don't want to be part of the UK or British so they aren't, genetically and ethnically the Irish are the same as many Welsh, Scots, Northern Irish and Western English as most are Celts.

[MetalMan]

Yes but in the same way Canadians and Americans are. So legally yes but culturally, not really no.

[Aneechik]

I don't see them as any more foreign than Australians.

[Nick1966]

Define 'foreign'.

Is 'foreign' someone who was born in another sovereign state and who now lives in the UK ?

[TelevisionUser]

Well, for the purposes of Red Button BBC Teletext, the Republic of Ireland (ROI) comes under the foreign affairs section but the local Northern Ireland pages often cover matters from ROI.

I wish the BBC would put some weather and temperature symbols on southern Ireland (like Sky News do) even if they don't say anything because it's like they're pretending that this particular land mass doesn't exist when clearly it does.

[Nick1966]

Originally Posted by TelevisionUser

... the local Northern Ireland pages often cover matters from ROI.

Be interesting to see what would happen if the Republic of Ireland decided to leave the Common Travel Area, and instead join the passport free Schengen Zone. There'd be fun and games at the NI / ROI border.

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by MetalMan

Yes but in the same way Canadians and Americans are. So legally yes but culturally, not really no.

Culturally both the UK and Ireland have many similarities, far more than the UK has with the USA or Canada.

[Josquius]

Culturally both the UK and Ireland have many similarities, far more than the UK has with the USA or Canada.

Culturally I'd see northern England as having more in common with Ireland than it does with southern England.

Originally Posted by MetalMan

Yes but in the same way
Canadians and Americans are. So legally yes but culturally, not really no.

Even legally things are iffy. ROI people living in the UK have the same rights as a Brit IIRC.

[Nick1966]

Originally Posted by Josquius

Culturally I'd see northern England as having more in common with Ireland than it does with southern England.



Even legally things are iffy. ROI people living in the UK have the same rights as a Brit IIRC.

Yes, they do. The British FCO is a bit behind the times and still thinks that Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, there has been some talk of ROI re-joining the Commonwealth. They left in 1949.

[1066andallthat]

Originally Posted by Nick1966

Be interesting to see what would happen if the Republic of Ireland decided to leave the Common Travel Area, and instead join the passport free Schengen Zone. There'd be fun and games at the NI / ROI border.

That'd bring back old memories...

[1066andallthat]

Originally Posted by Josquius

Culturally I'd see northern England as having more in common with Ireland than it does with southern England.

As someone born in NE I see no similarities to the Irish.

I often felt a kindrid spirit with the Scots rather than southern England.

I suppose that's why I never describe myself as English.

I feel British, and then, if I must, European.

I certaintly don't regard myself as English which I think culturally is more of a southern softie, cricket village greens with warm beer and Eton fags, Wimbledon and Henley (i.e. a bit middle / upper middle class).

[Josquius]

Originally Posted by Nick1966

Yes, they do. The British FCO is a bit behind the times and still thinks that Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, there has been some talk of ROI re-joining the Commonwealth. They left in 1949.

I hope it happens.
Purely for how delicious the outrage and retarded rhetoric from the Irish far right would be.

[MARTYM8]

Depends when they were born. Any Irish person born before 1921 is legally British and Irish.

[Nick1966]

According to the Ireland Act, 1949, the ROI is "not a foreign country for the purposes of any law"

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland...949#Provisions.

There's also some stuff about Irish and UK citizenship.

[TelevisionUser]

Originally Posted by Nick1966

Yes, they do. The British FCO is a bit behind the times and still thinks that Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, there has been some talk of ROI re-joining the Commonwealth. They left in 1949.

...and they could then participate in the Commonwealth Games too. On a wider political and good will level, it might help relations between ROI and the north.

[BeethovensPiano]

Originally Posted by 5th Horseman

They don't want to be part of the UK or British so they aren't, genetically and ethnically the Irish are the same as many Welsh, Scots, Northern Irish and Western English as most are Celts.

The predominant DNA signature is Celtic/Iron Age Briton/Stone Age, what ever you want to call them, regardless of where you are in Britain.

[1066andallthat]

Originally Posted by MARTYM8

Depends when they were born. Any Irish person born before 1921 is legally British and Irish.

But very old...

[Biffo the Bear]

As a dual British/Irish passport holder, I can tell you that I don't feel like a foreigner, neither in the UK or Ireland.

[camer]

Originally Posted by Nick1966

Be interesting to see what would happen if the Republic of Ireland decided to leave the Common Travel Area, and instead join the passport free Schengen Zone. There'd be fun and games at the NI / ROI border.

There has not been a border between N.I and Eire for almost 15 years now.

[jswift909]

Originally Posted by BeethovensPiano

The predominant DNA signature is Celtic/Iron Age Briton/Stone Age, what ever you want to call them, regardless of where you are in Britain.

Blimey! They've never married someone from elsewhere?

I don't know what the heck I'd be - half Cornish half Lancastrian I know the Cornish side dates back hundreds of years, pretty much in one place, but I don't know if any of them ever married a foreigner from elsewhere, i.e. the North

[Nick1966]

Originally Posted by camer

There has not been a border between N.I and Eire for almost 15 years now.

Depends what you mean by 'border'. A couple hundred metres from my home is the border between the London Boroughs of Hackey and Islington. There's scarcely any need for a checkpoint.

I've crossed the border between Mexico and the US, complete with checks, armed police and a wall.

Northern Ireland and Eire share a common land border. NI is part of the UK and Eire is a seperate sovereign state. At the moment, to travel into either Eire or the UK from the schengen area, you go through passport control. Sometimes twice: once leaving Schengen and once entering Eire or the UK. Now, if Eire/ROI were to join Schengen, I reckon there would need to be full blown border controls on the NI/Eire interface complete with passport checks and customs.

[Nick1966]

Originally Posted by TelevisionUser

...and they could then participate in the Commonwealth Games too. On a wider political and good will level, it might help relations between ROI and the north.

Interestingly, think this is part of the reasoning for the idea of ROI rejoining.

Since Ireland got independence in 1922, no British monarch has ever visited the Republic.

[MARTYM8]

Wll the Irish are basically a nation of Celts - so they are the true Brits along with the Scots and Irish.

Its really the English (Anglo Saxons) who are originally from Germany, Holland and Denmark who are foreigners!