Do you consider the Irish to be foreigners?

27 comments

1. No, I don’t, personally.

2. Of course

3. Not really, they technically are though if they’re from the republic.

4. Pretty much, they’re and independent country. But many people in both Ireland and the UK have close ties e.g. family to each other, so they don’t feel foreign.

5. I live near Nottingham and consider people from Leicester to be foreigners so…

6. Not really. I’m English and Irish people don’t feel any more foreign to me than Welsh or Scottish people.

7. Personally, no. My mum is from Ireland and I don’t view her or my Irish family (or anyone else in Ireland, for that matter) any differently to my English family.

8. For me, no. Accent wise I can’t tell the difference from Northern Irish to the rest of Ireland so I just see them as one of us

9. I mean, I know they are but no, I don’t really

10. As an English person of Irish parents the answer is yes and no

11. They’re foreign, but not *foreign*.

12. Irish from Northern Ireland? No

    Irish from ROI? Yes

13. I would say No as well.

    Remember that there is the Common Travel Area and Irish people can vote in U.K elections. So in law and rights Irish people are treated differently than the other nations you listed.

14. Yes, obviously.

15. I don’t, they just tend to have better jokes.

16. When we play rugby against them, yes. When we play rugby with them, British and Irish lions, then no.
    But I’m a Kennedy, so…….. I may be biased

17. No.

    Even legally, Ireland is not considered a foreign country and Irish citizens are not considered foreigners.

    The Ireland Act 1949 says

    > It is hereby declared that, notwithstanding that the Republic of Ireland is not part of His Majesty’s dominions, the Republic of Ireland is not a foreign country for the purposes of any law in force in any part of the United Kingdom

    Irish citizens are not considered to be ‘aliens’ in the British Nationality Act 1948, and are made exempt from immigration controls in the Immigration act.

18. I would see them as someone from a different country but I definitely wouldn’t see them as foreign in the way I would see someone from France, Germany, Italy etc.

    I see Ireland as a sibling nation of sorts.

19. I’d say that they’re foreign but less so than mainland Europeans. We’ve got a long (and often bitter) history, a common language (albeit largely because of that bitter history) and plenty of people, including my mum, move between the two countries.

20. Nah. My parents were Irish. They were foreigners when it suited them 🙂

21. I view the Irish the same as Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish.

    I like them all, but know each of them don’t like me (English).

22. No just neighbours.

23. Scot here no not really. They are culturally closer to us than any other nation in these islands.

24. No not really, and that’s not in some twatty nationalistic way.

    It’s just because we share so much and our cultures intertwine.

25. Personally being half Irish, not at all

26. I don’t. I know they’re not part of the UK, but I don’t think of them any differently than I would someone from England/Scotland/Wales.

27. It’s grossly offensive to say an Irish person is not a foreigner in UK.