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{{Short description|Ethnic group
{{About|the Irish as an ethnic group and nation|information on Ireland's population|Demographics of the Republic of Ireland|and|Demographics of Northern Ireland}}
{{Redirect|Irishman|pages titled "The Irishman"|The Irishman (disambiguation)|"The Irish People" newspapers|The Irish People}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Irish people
| native_name = {{native name|ga|Muintir na hÉireann}}
| native_name_lang = ga
| flag =
| flag_caption =
| pop = {{circa|70|lk=yes}}–80 million worldwide<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/05/28141101/6|title=The Scottish Diaspora and Diaspora Strategy: Insights and Lessons from Ireland|first=Scottish Government, St. Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG Tel:0131 556 8400|last=ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk|date=29 May 2009|website=scotland.gov.uk|access-date=14 October 2014|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224183242/https://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2009/05/28141101/6|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Map of the Irish Diaspora in the World.svg|center|frameless|260x260px]]
| regions = {{Plainlist|
* [[Republic of Ireland]]{{spaces|3}}5,149,139 (2022)<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpsr/censusofpopulation2022-summaryresults/keyfindings/|title = Census of Population 2022 – Summary Results|website = cso.ie|date = 3 April 2022|access-date = 7 August 2023|archive-date = 7 August 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230807181457/https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpsr/censusofpopulation2022-summaryresults/keyfindings/|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Ethnic Irish at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2020)</ref>
* [[Northern Ireland]]{{spaces|3}}627,814 (2021){{refn|group=N|2021 census, Irish alone and other national identifications}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-07 |title=Census 2021 main statistics identity tables |url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/census-2021-main-statistics-identity-tables |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency |language=en |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709191619/https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/census-2021-main-statistics-identity-tables |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- Do not add in the Northern Irish 'flag' as it is not official. The only 'recognised' flag of NI is the Union Jack.-->
}}
| region1 = [[United States]]
| pop1 = 36,000,000 (self-identified, figure includes both Irish nationals and expats living in America, along with Americans that have either primary or partial Irish ancestry)
| ref1 = <ref>{{cite web|author=American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-parsed=true&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |title=U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 |publisher=Factfinder.census.gov |access-date=30 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410054142/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-parsed=true&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |archive-date=10 April 2010 }}</ref>
| region2 = [[United Kingdom]] ({{Abbr|excl.|excluding}} NI)
| pop2 = 14,000,000 (650,000 first generation)
| ref2 = <ref name="Irish_UK_01">{{cite news |title=One in four Britons claim Irish roots |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1224611.stm |access-date=7 December 2020 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=16 March 2001 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224183251/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1224611.stm%20/default.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37246769|title=How many Britons are entitled to an Irish passport?|first=Simon|last=Maybin|work=[[BBC News]]|date=2 September 2016|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728182612/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37246769|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region3 = [[Australia]]
| pop3 = 7,000,000
| ref3 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=32623|title=Department of Foreign Affairs – Emigrant Grants|date=28 July 2013|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728145239/http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=32623|archive-date=28 July 2013}}</ref>
| region4 = [[Canada]]
| pop4 = 4,627,000
| ref4 = <ref name="2016 Ethnic Origin">{{cite web |title=Ethnic Origin, both sexes, age (total), Canada, 2016 Census – 25% Sample data |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/Table.cfm?Lang=E&T=31&Geo=01 |website=[[Canada 2016 Census]] |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |access-date=30 January 2020 |language=en |date=20 February 2019 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112015204/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/imm/Table.cfm?Lang=E |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CanadaCensus">{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=Ethnic Origin (264), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age Groups (10) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 National Household Survey|publisher=[[Statistics Canada]]|year=2011|access-date=24 November 2013|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224183256/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region5 = [[New Zealand]]
| pop5 = 600,000
| ref5 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2003/06/ithe_irish_in_new_zealand_historical_contexts_and_perspectivesi/|title=The Irish in New Zealand: Historical Contexts and Perspectives – Brian Easton|website=www.eastonbh.ac.nz|date=14 June 2003|access-date=20 March 2016|archive-date=5 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105184309/http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2003/06/ithe_irish_in_new_zealand_historical_contexts_and_perspectivesi/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region6 = [[Argentina]]
| pop6 = 500,000
| ref6 = <ref name="Argentina">{{cite web|url=http://westernpeople.ie/news/story.asp?j=36054 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014183725/http://westernpeople.ie/news/story.asp?j=36054 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 October 2007 |title=Flying the Irish flag in Argentina |publisher=Western People |date=14 March 2008 |access-date=4 July 2008}}</ref>
| region7 = [[Chile]]
| pop7 = 120,000
| ref7 = <ref name="Irlandeses, 120.000">{{cite web |url=http://www.ohigginstours.com/esp/irlandeses.php |author=O'Higgins Tours |title=Los irlandeses en Chile |access-date=10 January 2010 |archive-date=7 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907165703/http://www.ohigginstours.com/esp/irlandeses.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region9 = [[Germany]]
| pop9 = 35,000
| ref9 = <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.europeanirish.com/germany/an |title=estimated 35,000-more than 1 million enjoy Irish culture |access-date=13 February 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307190133/http://www.europeanirish.com/germany/an |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| region10 = [[France]]
| pop10 = 20,000–24,000
| ref10 = <ref>{{cite web |title=Who are the Irish in France, and what are they doing there? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/who-are-the-irish-in-france-and-what-are-they-doing-there-1.3761654 |publisher=Irish Times |date=18 January 2019 |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-date=22 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522173857/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/who-are-the-irish-in-france-and-what-are-they-doing-there-1.3761654 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region11 = [[Netherlands]]
| pop11 = 11,308 (2021)
| ref11 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Bevolking; geslacht, leeftijd, generatie en migratieachtergrond, 1 januari|url=https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table?ts=1584306247468|publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)|language=nl|date=22 July 2021|access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803035505/https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table?ts=1584306247468|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region12 = [[Colombia]]
| pop12 = 10,000
| ref12 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Irlandeses en Colombia y Antioquia|url=https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/colombia/newsevents/irlandeses-en-colombia-y-antioquia-.html|access-date=2022-03-25|website=www.dfa.ie|archive-date=26 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826014128/https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/colombia/newsevents/irlandeses-en-colombia-y-antioquia-.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| langs = {{Plainlist|
* [[Irish language|Irish]]{{refn|group=N|Historical and native}}
* [[English language|English]] ([[Hiberno-English]] dialects){{refn|group=N|Dominant}}
* [[Scots language|Scots]] ([[Ulster Scots dialects|Ulster Scots]] dialects)
* [[Irish Sign Language|Irish Sign]]
* [[Northern Ireland Sign Language|Northern Ireland Sign]]
}}
| rels = {{Plainlist|
* Mainly [[Christianity]]
* (majority [[Catholicism in Ireland|Catholicism]]; minority [[Protestantism in Ireland|Protestantism]]: [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterianism]], [[Church of Ireland|Anglicanism]], [[Methodist Church in Ireland|Methodism]])
* See also: [[Religion in Ireland]]
}}
| related = [[Irish Travellers]], [[Gaels]], [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]], [[Breton people|Bretons]], [[Cornish people|Cornish]], [[English people|English]], [[Icelanders]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Helgason | first1 = Agnar |display-authors=etal | year = 2000 | title = Estimating Scandinavian and Gaelic ancestry in the male settlers of Iceland | journal = The American Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 67 | issue = 3| pages = 697–717 | doi=10.1086/303046| pmid = 10931763 | pmc = 1287529 | issn=0002-9297}}</ref> [[Manx people|Manx]], [[Scottish people|Scots]], [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]], [[Welsh people|Welsh]]
}}
{{Irish people}}
The '''Irish''' ({{langx|ga|Na Gaeil}} or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an [[ethnic group]] and [[nation]] native to the island of [[Ireland]], who share a common ancestry, history and [[Culture of Ireland|culture]]. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years (see [[Prehistoric Ireland]]). For most of Ireland's [[recorded history]], the Irish have been primarily a [[Gaels|Gaelic people]] (see [[Gaelic Ireland]]). From the 9th century, small numbers of [[Vikings]] settled in Ireland, becoming the [[Norse-Gaels]]. [[Anglo-Normans]] also [[Norman invasion of Ireland|conquered parts of Ireland]] in the 12th century, while [[Kingdom of England|England]]'s 16th/17th century [[Tudor conquest of Ireland|conquest]] and [[Plantations of Ireland|colonisation of Ireland]] brought many [[English people|English]] and [[Scottish Lowlands|Lowland]] [[Scottish people|Scots]] to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland (officially called [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]) and [[Northern Ireland]] (a [[Countries of the United Kingdom|part]] of the [[United Kingdom]]). The [[people of Northern Ireland]] hold various national identities including Irish, British or some combination thereof.
The Irish have their own unique customs, [[Irish language|language]], [[Irish traditional music|music]], [[Irish dance|dance]], [[Gaelic games|sports]], [[Irish cuisine|cuisine]] and [[Irish mythology|mythology]]. Although [[Irish language|Irish (Gaeilge)]] was their main language in the past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or [[Irish clans|clans]], and the Irish also had their own [[Celtic paganism|religion]], [[Early Irish law|law code]], [[Ogham|alphabet]] and [[Gaelic Ireland#Dress|style of dress]].{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}
There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After [[History of Ireland (400–795)|Ireland's conversion to Christianity]], Irish missionaries and scholars [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|exerted great influence]] on Western Europe, and the Irish came to be seen as a nation of "saints and scholars". The 6th-century Irish monk and missionary [[Columbanus]] is regarded as one of the "fathers of Europe",<ref name="ColumbanusZenit">{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-22867|title=Pope Calls Irish Monk a Father of Europe|access-date=15 July 2007|date=11 July 2007|publisher=[[Zenit News Agency|Zenit]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615013728/http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-22867|archive-date=15 June 2008}}</ref> followed by saints [[Saint Kilian|Cillian]] and [[Vergilius of Salzburg|Fergal]]. The scientist [[Robert Boyle]] is considered the "father of [[chemistry]]", and [[Robert Mallet]] one of the "fathers of [[seismology]]". [[Irish literature]] has produced famous writers in both Irish- and English-language traditions, such as [[Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin]], [[Dáibhí Ó Bruadair]], [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[W. B. Yeats]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[James Joyce]], [[Máirtín Ó Cadhain]], [[Eavan Boland]], and [[Seamus Heaney]]. Notable Irish explorers include [[Brendan the Navigator]], [[Robert McClure|Sir Robert McClure]], [[Sir Alexander Armstrong]], [[Sir Ernest Shackleton]] and [[Tom Crean (explorer)|Tom Crean]]. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides.<ref name="Smiley630">Smiley, p. 630</ref> Many [[List of Presidents of the United States|presidents of the United States]] have had some Irish ancestry.
The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million,<!-- 5m in ROI, 1.9m in NI --> but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have varying degrees of Irish ancestry. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially [[Irish migration to Great Britain|Great Britain]], the [[Irish Americans|United States]], [[Irish Canadians|Canada]], [[Irish New Zealanders|New Zealand]] and [[Irish Australians|Australia]]. There are also significant numbers in [[Irish Argentine|Argentina]], [[Irish Mexicans|Mexico]], [[Irish Brazilians|Brazil]], [[Germany]], and [[The United Arab Emirates]]. The United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/takes/dail1987042900006#N6 |title=Dáil Éireann – 29/Apr/1987 Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. – Australian Bicentenary |publisher=Oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie |date=29 April 1987 |access-date=1 March 2014 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224183253/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1987-04-29/#N6 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many [[Icelanders]] have Irish and Scottish Gaelic ancestors due to transportation there as [[Slavery in Ireland|slaves]] by the [[Vikings]] during their settlement of [[Settlement of Iceland|Iceland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/dna-study-reveals-fate-of-irish-women-taken-by-vikings-as-slaves-to-iceland-1.3521206 |title=DNA study reveals fate of Irish women taken by Vikings as slaves to Iceland |publisher=irishtimes.com |date=6 Jun 2018 |access-date=25 April 2024 }}</ref>
==Origins and antecedents==
===Prehistoric and legendary ancestors===
{{Main|Prehistoric Ireland|Early history of Ireland|}}
[[File:Carrowmore_Megalithic_Cemetery_P7_2015_09_08.jpg|thumb|[[Carrowmore]] tomb, {{circa}} 3000 BC]]
During the past 33,000 years,<ref>{{Cite web|title=First humans came here 33,000 years ago, reindeer bones show|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/first-humans-came-here33000-years-ago-reindeer-bones-show-40326319.html|access-date=2021-05-07|website=independent|date=18 April 2021|language=en|archive-date=27 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427213010/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/first-humans-came-here33000-years-ago-reindeer-bones-show-40326319.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Roseingrave|first=Louise|title=Reindeer bone found in Cork cave shows human activity in Ireland 33,000 years ago|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/reindeer-bone-cork-cave-5413607-Apr2021/|access-date=2021-05-07|website=TheJournal.ie|language=en|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507232843/https://www.thejournal.ie/reindeer-bone-cork-cave-5413607-Apr2021/|url-status=live}}</ref> Ireland has witnessed different peoples arrive on its shores.
[[Pytheas]] made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe in about 325 BC, but his account of it, known widely in [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], has not survived and is now known only through the writings of others. On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of modern-day [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]]. He was the first known scientific visitor to see and describe the [[Celtic peoples|Celtic]] and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pytheas|title=Pytheas | Greek explorer|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=26 November 2019|archive-date=3 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103111944/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pytheas|url-status=live}}</ref>
One legend states that the Irish were descended from the [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]], who supposedly conquered Ireland around 1000 BC or later.<ref>Mac Manus, p 1 & 7</ref>
===Genetics===
{{See also|Genetic history of Europe|Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of Europe|Genetic history of the British Isles}}
[[File:DF13_EUROPE.png|thumb|Distribution of [[Haplogroup R-L21]] in Europe]]
The key traits of the Irish genome have been borne by people in Ireland since the early [[Bronze Age Ireland|Bronze Age]], around 4,000 years ago.<ref name="Cassidy"/> The world's highest frequencies of the [[Haplogroup R-L21|R-L21]] [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|Y-chromosome haplotype]] and [[lactase persistence]] (the ability to digest milk into adulthood) are found among people in Ireland.<ref name="Cassidy"/>
[[Haplogroup R1b]] is the dominant haplogroup among Irish males, reaching a frequency of almost 80%.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/R-M343/frequency|title = FamilyTreeDNA Discover™|website = [[Family TreeDNA]]|access-date = 4 January 2023|archive-date = 7 January 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230107205010/https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/R-M343/frequency|url-status = live}}</ref> This is also the dominant haplogroup in most of Western Europe. [[Haplogroup R-L21|R1b-L21]] is the dominant sub-clade throughout Ireland, reaching a frequency of 65%. This subclade is also dominant in Scotland, Wales and Brittany and descends from a common ancestor who lived in about 2,500 BC.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/24686284/The_phylogenealogy_of_R_L21_four_and_a_half_millennia_of_expansion_and_redistribution "The phylogenealogy of R-L21: Four and a half millennia of expansion and redistribution."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111105959/https://www.academia.edu/24686284/The_phylogenealogy_of_R_L21_four_and_a_half_millennia_of_expansion_and_redistribution |date=11 November 2022 }} (Joe Flood)</ref>
Modern Irish people have a small amount of ancestry from the [[Early European Farmers]] who lived in Ireland during the [[Neolithic Ireland|Neolithic]] (New Stone Age). Irish people derive most of their ancestry from [[Western Steppe Herders]] who originally came from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] and arrived in western Europe during the early [[Bronze Age Ireland|Bronze Age]].<ref>{{Cite journal |biorxiv = 10.1101/013433 | doi=10.1038/NATURE14317 |title = Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe|journal = Nature|volume = 522|issue = 7555|pages = 207–11|year = 2015|last1 = Haak|first1 = Wolfgang|last2 = Lazaridis|first2 = Iosif|last3 = Patterson|first3 = Nick|last4 = Rohland|first4 = Nadin|last5 = Mallick|first5 = Swapan|last6 = Llamas|first6 = Bastien|last7 = Brandt|first7 = Guido|last8 = Nordenfelt|first8 = Susanne|last9 = Harney|first9 = Eadaoin|last10 = Stewardson|first10 = Kristin|last11 = Fu|first11 = Qiaomei|last12 = Mittnik|first12 = Alissa|last13 = Bánffy|first13 = Eszter|last14 = Economou|first14 = Christos|last15 = Francken|first15 = Michael|last16 = Friederich|first16 = Susanne|last17 = Pena|first17 = Rafael Garrido|last18 = Hallgren|first18 = Fredrik|last19 = Khartanovich|first19 = Valery|last20 = Khokhlov|first20 = Aleksandr|last21 = Kunst|first21 = Michael|last22 = Kuznetsov|first22 = Pavel|last23 = Meller|first23 = Harald|last24 = Mochalov|first24 = Oleg|last25 = Moiseyev|first25 = Vayacheslav|last26 = Nicklisch|first26 = Nicole|last27 = Pichler|first27 = Sandra L.|last28 = Risch|first28 = Roberto|last29 = Rojo Guerra|first29 = Manuel A.|last30 = Roth|first30 = Christina|display-authors = 29|bibcode = 2015Natur.522..207H|arxiv = 1502.02783 |pmid = 25731166 |pmc = 5048219}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature14507 |pmid=26062507 |title=Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia |journal=Nature |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=167–172 |year=2015 |last1=Allentoft |first1=Morten E. |last2=Sikora |first2=Martin |last3=Sjögren |first3=Karl-Göran |last4=Rasmussen |first4=Simon |last5=Rasmussen |first5=Morten |last6=Stenderup |first6=Jesper |last7=Damgaard |first7=Peter B. |last8=Schroeder |first8=Hannes |last9=Ahlström |first9=Torbjörn |last10=Vinner |first10=Lasse |last11=Malaspinas |first11=Anna-Sapfo |last12=Margaryan |first12=Ashot |last13=Higham |first13=Tom |last14=Chivall |first14=David |last15=Lynnerup |first15=Niels |last16=Harvig |first16=Lise |last17=Baron |first17=Justyna |last18=Casa |first18=Philippe Della |last19=Dąbrowski |first19=Paweł |last20=Duffy |first20=Paul R. |last21=Ebel |first21=Alexander V. |last22=Epimakhov |first22=Andrey |last23=Frei |first23=Karin |last24=Furmanek |first24=Mirosław |last25=Gralak |first25=Tomasz |last26=Gromov |first26=Andrey |last27=Gronkiewicz |first27=Stanisław |last28=Grupe |first28=Gisela |last29=Hajdu |first29=Tamás |last30=Jarysz |first30=Radosław |display-authors=29| bibcode=2015Natur.522..167A |s2cid=4399103 |url=https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/13155 |access-date=30 September 2019 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713182031/https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/13155 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite bioRxiv|biorxiv=10.1101/016477|title=Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe |year=2015|last1=Mathieson|first1=Iain|last2=Lazaridis|first2=Iosif|last3=Rohland|first3=Nadin|last4=Mallick |first4=Swapan|last5=Patterson|first5=Nick|last6=Alpaslan Roodenberg|first6=Songul|last7=Harney|first7=Eadaoin |last8=Stewardson|first8=Kristin|last9=Fernandes|first9=Daniel|last10=Novak|first10=Mario|last11=Sirak |first11=Kendra|last12=Gamba|first12=Cristina|last13=Jones|first13=Eppie R.|last14=Llamas|first14=Bastien |last15=Dryomov|first15=Stanislav|last16=Pickrell|first16=Joseph|last17=Arsuaga|first17=Juan Luis|last18=De Castro |first18=Jose Maria Bermudez|last19=Carbonell|first19=Eudald|last20=Gerritsen|first20=Fokke|last21=Khokhlov |first21=Aleksandr|last22=Kuznetsov|first22=Pavel|last23=Lozano|first23=Marina|last24=Meller|first24=Harald |last25=Mochalov|first25=Oleg|last26=Moiseyev|first26=Vayacheslav|last27=Rojo Guerra|first27=Manuel A. |last28=Roodenberg|first28=Jacob|last29=Verges|first29=Josep Maria|last30=Krause|first30=Johannes |display-authors=1}}</ref>
A recent [[archaeogenetics]] study of ancient remains from Ireland found that the older Neolithic farming population was most similar to present-day [[Sardinians]]. Meanwhile, three Bronze Age men buried on [[Rathlin Island]] between 2000–1500 BC were most similar to present-day Irish people. They all belonged to [[Haplogroup R-L21]] and had the gene for [[lactase persistence]]. This shows strong genetic continuity in Ireland from the Bronze Age to the modern era.<ref>{{cite news|first=Tim|last=Radford |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/28/origins-of-the-irish-down-to-mass-migration-ancient-dna-confirms|title=Irish DNA originated in Middle East and eastern Europe|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=28 December 2015|access-date=19 December 2016|archive-date=17 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117185713/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/28/origins-of-the-irish-down-to-mass-migration-ancient-dna-confirms|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cassidy">{{cite journal|author=Lara M. Cassidy|author2=Rui Martiniano|display-authors=etal |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/22/1518445113.full.pdf|title=Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome|journal=PNAS|date=28 December 2015|volume=113|issue=2 |pages=368–373|doi=10.1073/pnas.1518445113|pmid=26712024|pmc=4720318|bibcode=2016PNAS..113..368C|doi-access=free |access-date=29 December 2015|archive-date=29 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151229093904/http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/22/1518445113.full.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
It is most likely that these Bronze Age people of the R-L21 haplogroup brought the [[Bell Beaker culture]] to Ireland, and it is suggested that they also brought an [[Indo-European language]] that was an ancestor to the [[Insular Celtic]] and [[Gaelic languages]].<ref name="Cassidy"/> Today, R-L21 is the dominant haplogroup throughout the island of Ireland as well as western Scotland, Wales and Brittany. It is therefore associated with the [[Insular Celts|Insular Celtic peoples]].<ref name="Cassidy"/>
A 2017 genetic study shows that the Irish population can be divided into ten geographic genetic clusters; seven of 'Gaelic' Irish ancestry, and three of shared Irish-British ancestry. The differences between the 'Gaelic' clusters are small, and are "surprisingly faithful to the historical boundaries of Irish provinces and kingdoms". The largest difference is between native 'Gaelic' Irish populations and those of Ulster Protestants known to have recent, partial British ancestry. They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'Northwestern France' component which reached highest levels in the Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish); and a 'West Norway' component related to the Viking era.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Irish DNA Atlas: Revealing Fine-Scale Population Structure and History within Ireland|first1=Edmund|last1=Gilbert|first2=Seamus|last2=O’Reilly|first3=Michael|last3=Merrigan|first4=Darren|last4=McGettigan|first5=Anne M.|last5=Molloy|first6=Lawrence C.|last6=Brody|first7=Walter|last7=Bodmer|first8=Katarzyna|last8=Hutnik|first9=Sean|last9=Ennis|first10=Daniel J.|last10=Lawson|first11=James F.|last11=Wilson|first12=Gianpiero L.|last12=Cavalleri|date=8 December 2017|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=7|issue=1|pages=17199|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-17124-4|pmid = 29222464|pmc=5722868|bibcode=2017NatSR...717199G}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007152 |doi-access=free |biorxiv=10.1101/230797 |title=Insular Celtic population structure and genomic footprints of migration |date=2018 |last1=Byrne |first1=Ross P. |last2=Martiniano |first2=Rui |last3=Cassidy |first3=Lara M. |last4=Carrigan |first4=Matthew |last5=Hellenthal |first5=Garrett |last6=Hardiman |first6=Orla |last7=Bradley |first7=Daniel G. |last8=McLaughlin |first8=Russell L. |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=e1007152 |pmid=29370172 |pmc=5784891 }}</ref>
Irish people have the least amount of ancestry from the [[Anglo-Saxons]] in the [[British Isles]] at around 10%, which is significantly lower than their [[Celts|Celtic]] neighbours in [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] who have got around 30% of their respective genomes being of Anglo-Saxon origin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Nicolas |date=5 March 2007 |title=English, Irish, Scots: They're All One, Genes Suggest |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/science/05cnd-brits.html |access-date=2 August 2025 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schiffels, Haak, Paajanen, Popescu, Loe, Clarke, Lyons, Mortimer, Sayer, Tyler-Smith, Cooper, Durbin |first=Stephan, Wolfgang, Pirita, Bastien, Elizabeth, Louise, Rachel, Alice, Richard, Duncan, Chris, Alan, Richard |date=19 January 2016 |title=Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4735688/ |access-date=2 August 2025 |website=National Library of Medicine}}</ref>
{{anchor|TermBlackIrish}} As of 2016, 10,100 Irish nationals of African descent referred to themselves as [[Black people in Ireland|"Black Irish"]] in the national census.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp8iter/p8iter/p8e/ |title=Census of Population 2016 – Profile 8 Irish Travellers, Ethnicity and Religion |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=30 January 2022 |quote=There were 10,100 dual Irish nationals who identified themselves as 'Black or Black Irish - African', the largest group of which was Irish-Nigerian nationals (6,683 persons). |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920135911/https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp8iter/p8iter/p8e/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The term "Black Irish" is sometimes used outside Ireland to refer to Irish people with black hair and dark eyes. One theory is that they are descendants of Spanish traders or of the few sailors of the [[Spanish Armada in Ireland|Spanish Armada]] who were shipwrecked on Ireland's west coast, but there is little evidence for this.<ref>[http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Who-were-the-Black-Irish-92376439.html Who were the Black Irish? What is the origin of the Irish with swarthy dark features? A subject of historical discussion, the subject is almost never referred to in Ireland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525045941/http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Who-were-the-Black-Irish-92376439.html? |date=25 May 2013 }}. IrishCentral.com. Staff Writers, 26 March 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.</ref>
=== Irish Travellers ===
[[Irish Travellers]] are an [[Ethnic group|ethnic]] people of [[Ireland]]. A [[DNA]] study found they originally descended from the general Irish population, however, they are now very distinct from it. The emergence of Travellers as a distinct group occurred long before the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]], a [[Genetics|genetic]] analysis shows. The research suggests that Traveller origins may in fact date as far back as 420 years to 1597. [[Plantations of Ireland|The Plantation of Ulster]] began around that time, with native Irish displaced from the land, perhaps to form a nomadic population.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/travellers-as-genetically-different-from-settled-irish-as-spanish-1.2969515|title=Travellers as 'genetically different' from settled Irish as Spanish|first=Dick|last=Ahlstrom|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=22 September 2020|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031234609/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/travellers-as-genetically-different-from-settled-irish-as-spanish-1.2969515|url-status=live}}</ref>
==History==
===Early expansion and the coming of Christianity===
{{See also|Early history of Ireland}}
[[File:Clonard RC Church St Finian 07 Detail 2007 08 26.jpg|thumb|[[Finnian of Clonard]] imparting his blessing to the "[[Twelve Apostles of Ireland]]"]]
One Roman historian{{Which?|date=June 2024|reason=Experts in this subject will probably have a good idea who, without MacManus's book in-hand we cannot be certain MacManus had that particular Roman writer in mind, actually.}} records that the Irish people were divided into "sixteen different nations" or tribes.<ref name="MacManus86">MacManus, p 86</ref> Traditional histories assert that the Romans never attempted to conquer Ireland, although it may have been considered.<ref name="MacManus86"/> The Irish were not, however, cut off from Europe; they frequently raided the Roman territories,<ref name="MacManus86"/> and also maintained trade links.<ref>MacManus, p 87</ref>
Among the most famous people of ancient Irish history are the [[High Kings of Ireland]], such as [[Cormac mac Airt]] and [[Niall of the Nine Hostages]], and the semi-legendary [[Fianna]]. The 20th-century writer [[Seumas MacManus]] wrote that even if the Fianna and the [[Fenian Cycle]] were purely fictional, they would still be representative of the character of the Irish people:
{{blockquote|...such beautiful fictions of such beautiful ideals, by themselves, presume and prove beautiful-souled people, capable of appreciating lofty ideals.<ref>MacManus, p67</ref>}}
The introduction of Christianity to the Irish people during the 5th century brought a radical change to the Irish people's foreign relations.<ref name="MacManus89">MacManus, p 89</ref> The only military raid abroad recorded after that century is a presumed invasion of [[Wales]], which according to a Welsh manuscript may have taken place around the 7th century.<ref name="MacManus89"/> In the words of Seumas MacManus:
{{blockquote|If we compare the history of Ireland in the 6th century, after Christianity was received, with that of the 4th century, before the coming of Christianity, the wonderful change and contrast is probably more striking than any other such change in any other nation known to history.<ref name="MacManus89"/>}}
Following the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Irish secular laws and social institutions remained in place.<ref name="Nicholls"/>
===Migration and invasion in the Middle Ages===
{{See also|Early Medieval Ireland 800–1166|Norman invasion of Ireland}}
[[File:Dalriada.png|thumb|The approximate area of the [[Dál Riata]] (shaded)]]
The 'traditional' view is that, in the 4th or 5th century, Goidelic language and Gaelic culture was brought to Scotland by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of [[Dál Riata]] on Scotland's west coast.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Charles|title=The Edinburgh history of the Scots language|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=1997|page=551|isbn=978-0-7486-0754-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nora Kershaw Chadwick|first=Myles Dyllon|title=The Celtic Realms|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=1972|page=66|isbn=978-0-7607-4284-6}}</ref> This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. The archaeologist [[Ewan Campbell]] argues against this view, saying that there is no archaeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites. He states that "the Irish migration hypothesis seems to be a classic case of long-held historical beliefs influencing not only the interpretation of documentary sources themselves but the subsequent invasion paradigm being accepted uncritically in the related disciplines of archaeology and linguistics."<ref name=ewancampbell>Campbell, Ewan. "[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/scotsirish.htm Were the Scots Irish?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110002412/http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/scotsirish.htm |date=10 November 2012 }}" in ''Antiquity'' #75 (2001).</ref> Dál Riata and the territory of the neighbouring [[Picts]] merged to form the [[Kingdom of Alba]], and Goidelic language and Gaelic culture became dominant there. The country came to be called ''Scotland'', after the Roman name for the Gaels: ''[[Scoti]]''. The [[Isle of Man]] and the [[Manx people]] also came under massive Gaelic influence in their history.
Irish missionaries such as [[Columba|Saint Columba]] brought [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Christianity to Pictish Scotland]]. The Irishmen of this time were also "aware of the cultural unity of Europe", and it was the 6th-century Irish monk [[Columbanus]] who is regarded as "one of the fathers of Europe".<ref name="ColumbanusZenit"/> Another Irish saint, [[Aidan of Lindisfarne]], has been proposed as a possible [[patron saint]] of the United Kingdom,<ref>{{cite news |title=Home-grown holy man: Cry God for Harry, Britain and... St Aidan |work=The Independent |___location=London |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=21 July 2008 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/homegrown-holy-man-cry-god-for-harry-britain-and-st-aidan-814057.html |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023202402/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/homegrown-holy-man-cry-god-for-harry-britain-and-st-aidan-814057.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while [[Saint Kilian|Saints Kilian]] and [[Vergilius of Salzburg|Vergilius]] became the patron saints of [[Würzburg]] in Germany and [[Salzburg]] in Austria, respectively.
Irish missionaries founded monasteries outside Ireland, such as [[Iona Abbey]], the [[Abbey of St Gall]] in Switzerland, and [[Bobbio Abbey]] in Italy.
Common to both the monastic and the secular bardic schools were Irish and [[Latin]]. With Latin, the early Irish scholars "show almost a like familiarity that they do with their own Gaelic".<ref>MacManus, p 221</ref> There is evidence also that [[Hebrew]] and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] were studied, the latter probably being taught at Iona.<ref>MacManus, p 221–222</ref>
{{blockquote|"The knowledge of Greek", says Professor Sandys in his History of Classical Scholarship, "which had almost vanished in the west was so widely dispersed in the schools of Ireland that if anyone knew Greek it was assumed he must have come from that country."'<ref>MacManus, p 215</ref>}}
Since the time of [[Charlemagne]], Irish scholars had a considerable presence in the [[Carolingian Empire|Frankish court]], where they were renowned for their learning.<ref name="StanfordEriugena">{{cite encyclopedia |title=John Scottus Eriugena |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scottus-eriugena/ |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |date=17 October 2004 |access-date=21 July 2008 |archive-date=27 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627041736/http://plato.stanford.edu//entries///scottus-eriugena/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most significant Irish intellectual of the early monastic period was the 9th century [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena]], an outstanding philosopher in terms of originality.<ref name="StanfordEriugena"/> He was the earliest of the founders of [[scholasticism]], the dominant school of [[medieval philosophy]].<ref name="Gothic">Toman, p 10: "[[Peter Abelard|Abelard]] himself was... together with John Scotus Erigena (9th century), and [[Lanfranc]] and [[Anselm of Canterbury]] (both 11th century), one of the founders of scholasticism."</ref> He had considerable familiarity with the Greek language, and translated many works into Latin, affording access to the [[Cappadocian Fathers]] and the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian theology|Greek theological tradition]], previously almost unknown in the Latin West.<ref name="StanfordEriugena"/>
The influx of [[Viking]] raiders and traders in the 9th and 10th centuries resulted in the founding of many of Ireland's most important towns, including [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Dublin, [[Limerick]], and [[Waterford]] (earlier Gaelic settlements on these sites did not approach the urban nature of the subsequent Norse trading ports). The Vikings left little impact on Ireland other than towns and certain words added to the Irish language, but many Irish taken as slaves inter-married with the Scandinavians, hence forming a close link with the [[Icelandic people]]. In the Icelandic ''[[Laxdœla saga]]'', for example, "even slaves are highborn, descended from the kings of Ireland."<ref>Smiley, p. 274</ref> The first name of [[Njáll Þorgeirsson]], the chief protagonist of ''[[Njáls saga]]'', is a variation of the Irish name [[Neil]]. According to ''[[Eirik the Red's Saga]]'', the first European couple to have a child born in North America was descended from the Viking [[Kings of Dublin|Queen of Dublin]], [[Aud the Deep-minded]], and a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland.<ref name="Smiley630" />
[[File:16th-century-Irish.jpg|thumb|Irish [[Gaels]] in a painting from the 16th century]]
The arrival of the [[Anglo-Normans]] brought also the [[Wales|Welsh]], [[Flanders|Flemish]], [[Anglo-Saxons]], and [[Bretons]]. Most of these were [[cultural assimilation|assimilate]]d into [[Irish culture]] and polity by the 15th century, with the exception of some of the walled towns and [[the Pale]] areas.<ref name="Nicholls"/> The [[Late Middle Ages]] also saw the settlement of Scottish [[gallowglass]] families of mixed [[Gaelic-Norse]] and [[Picts|Pict]] descent, mainly in the north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated.
===Surnames===
{{Main|Irish name}}
{{Further|Celtic onomastics|List of Irish clans}}
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2010}}
The Irish were among the first people in Europe to use surnames as we know them today.<ref>{{cite book|last=Woulfe|first=Patrick|title=Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames|publisher=M. H. Gill & son|year=1923|pages=xx|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWFmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22ireland+was+the+first+country+after+the+fall%22|access-date=20 February 2010|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160250/https://books.google.com/books?id=nWFmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22ireland+was+the+first+country+after+the+fall%22#v=snippet&q=%22ireland%20was%20the%20first%20country%20after%20the%20fall%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> It is very common for people of [[Gaels|Gaelic]] origin to have the English versions of their surnames beginning with 'Ó' or 'Mac' (Over time however many have been shortened to 'O' or Mc). 'O' comes from the Irish Ó which in turn came from Ua, which means "[[grandson (son of a child)|grandson]]", or "[[Kinship|descendant]]" of a named person. Mac is the Irish for son.
Names that begin with "O'" include: Ó Bánion ([[O'Banion]]), Ó Briain ([[O'Brien (surname)|O'Brien]]), Ó Ceallaigh ([[Kelly (surname)|O'Kelly]]), Ó Conchobhair ([[O'Conor|O'Connor, O'Conor]]), Ó Chonaill ([[O'Connell (name)|O'Connell]]), O'Coiligh ([[Cox (surname)|Cox]]), Ó Cuilinn ([[Cullen (surname)|Cullen]]), Ó Domhnaill ([[O'Donnell]]), Ó Drisceoil ([[O'Driscoll]]), Ó hAnnracháin, ([[Hanrahan]]), Ó Máille ([[O'Malley (surname)|O'Malley]]), Ó Mathghamhna ([[O'Mahony]]), Ó Néill ([[O'Neill (surname)|O'Neill]]), Ó Sé ([[O'Shea]]), Ó Súilleabháin ([[O'Sullivan (surname)|O'Sullivan]]), Ó Caiside/Ó Casaide ([[Cassidy (surname)|Cassidy]]), Ó Brádaigh/Mac Bradaigh ([[Brady (surname)|Brady]]) and Ó Tuathail ([[O'Toole (surname)|O'Toole]]).
Names that begin with Mac or Mc include: Mac Cárthaigh ([[McCarthy (surname)|McCarthy]]), Mac Diarmada ([[McDermott]]), Mac Domhnaill ([[McDonnell (surname)|McDonnell]]), and Mac Mathghamhna ([[McMahon clans|McMahon]]) Mac(g) Uidhir ([[Maguire]]), Mac Dhonnchadha ([[McDonagh]]), Mac Conmara ([[MacNamara]]), Mac Craith ([[McGrath]]), Mac Aodha ([[McGee (name)|McGee]]), Mac Aonghuis ([[McGuinness]]), Mac Cana ([[McCann (surname)|McCann]]), Mac Lochlainn ([[McLaughlin (surname)|McLaughlin]]) and Mac Conallaidh ([[McNally (surname)|McNally]]). Mac is commonly anglicised Mc. However, "Mac" and "Mc" are not mutually exclusive, so, for example, both "MacCarthy" and "McCarthy" are used. Both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are both Irish in origin, Anglicized Prefix Mc is far more common in Ireland than Scotland with 2/3 of all Mc Surnames being Irish in origin<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burdess |first=Neil |date=25 October 2016 |title=A dozen things you might not know about Irish names |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-dozen-things-you-might-not-know-about-irish-names-1.2842791 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921064754/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-dozen-things-you-might-not-know-about-irish-names-1.2842791 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=21 March 2020 |work=The Irish Times}}</ref> However, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and [[Ulster]] than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" surnames are less common in Scotland having been brought to Scotland from Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/misc/macvsmc.html|title=ScottishHistory.com|website=www.scottishhistory.com|access-date=21 March 2020|archive-date=26 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326012404/http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/misc/macvsmc.html|url-status=live}}{{Self-published inline|date=July 2023}}</ref> The proper surname for a woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T).
[[File:Ireland 1450.png|thumb|190px|Ireland in 1450 showing lands held by [[Irish clans|native Irish]] (green), the [[Normans in Ireland|Anglo-Irish]] (blue) and the [[The Pale|English king]] (dark grey).]]
A son has the same surname as his father. A female's surname replaces Ó with Ní (reduced from Iníon Uí – "daughter of the grandson of") and Mac with Nic (reduced from Iníon Mhic – "daughter of the son of"); in both cases the following name undergoes lenition. However, if the second part of the surname begins with the letter C or G, it is not lenited after Nic.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Thus the daughter of a man named Ó Maolagáin has the surname ''Ní Mhaolagáin'' and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname ''Nic Gearailt''. When anglicised, the name can remain O' or Mac, regardless of gender.
There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including [[Clan Sweeney|Mac Suibhne]] (Sweeney) from Swein and McAuliffe from "Olaf". The name [[Cotter family|Cotter]], local to [[County Cork]], derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. The name [[Reynolds (surname)|Reynolds]] is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Raghnaill, itself originating from the Norse names Randal or Reginald. Though these names were of Viking derivation some of the families who bear them appear to have had Gaelic origins.
"Fitz" is an old Norman French variant of the Old French word {{lang|fro|fils}} (variant spellings {{lang|fro|filz}}, {{lang|fro|fiuz}}, {{lang|fro|fiz}}, etc.), used by the Normans, meaning ''son''. The [[Normans]] themselves were descendants of [[Vikings]], who had settled in [[Normandy]] and thoroughly adopted the French language and culture.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Normans |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MA/NORMANS.HTM |author=Richard Hooker |publisher=[[Washington State University]] |access-date=12 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614140152/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MA/NORMANS.HTM |archive-date=14 June 2008 }}{{Self-published inline|date=July 2023}}</ref> With the exception of the Gaelic-Irish [[Fitzpatrick (name)|Fitzpatrick]] ([[Mac Giolla Phádraig]]) surname, all names that begin with Fitz – including [[FitzGerald]] (Mac Gearailt), [[Fitzsimons]] (Mac Síomóin/Mac an Ridire) and FitzHenry (Mac Anraí) – are descended from the initial Norman settlers. A small number of Irish families of [[Goidelic]] origin came to use a Norman form of their original surname—so that Mac Giolla Phádraig became Fitzpatrick—while some assimilated so well that the Irish name was dropped in favour of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Another common Irish surname of [[Hiberno-Norman|Norman Irish]] origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Examples include de Búrca (Burke), de Brún, de Barra (Barry), de Stac (Stack), de Tiúit, de Faoite (White), de Londras (Landers), de Paor (Power). The Irish surname "Walsh" (in Irish {{lang|ga|Breathnach}}) was routinely given to settlers of [[Welsh people|Welsh]] origin, who had come during and after the Norman invasion. The Joyce and Griffin/Griffith (Gruffydd) families are also of Welsh origin.
The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Maol Seachlainn, Ó Maol Seachnaill, Ó Conchobhair, Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmada families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family was in question, something that has been diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. Different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An Sionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day. Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as the use of a common language and mass Irish migration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries.
===Late Medieval and Tudor Ireland===
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2 DS-25 (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|339x339px|A 16th century perception of Irish women and girls, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by [[Lucas de Heere|Lucas d'Heere]] in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in the [[Ghent University Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel par Luc Dheere peintre et sculpteur Gantois[manuscript]|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=85&xywh=-4233,-130,13874,8416|access-date=25 August 2020|website=lib.ugent.be|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029015419/https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=85&xywh=-4233,-130,13874,8416|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
{{See also|Gaelic Ireland|Lordship of Ireland}}
[[File:Galloglass-circa-1521.jpg|thumb|Gaelic Irish soldiers in the [[Low Countries]], from a drawing of 1521 by [[Albrecht Dürer]]]]
The Irish people of the Late Middle Ages were active as traders on the European continent.<ref name=autogenerated1>MacManus, p 343</ref> They were distinguished from the English (who only used their own language or French) in that they only used [[Latin]] abroad—a language "spoken by all educated people throughout Gaeldom".<ref>MacManus, p 340</ref> According to the writer [[Seumas MacManus]], the explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] visited Ireland to gather information about the lands to the west,<ref name="MacManus343">MacManus, p 343–344</ref> a number of Irish names are recorded on Columbus' crew roster preserved in the archives of [[Madrid]] and it was an Irishman named Patrick Maguire who was the first to set foot in the [[Americas]] in 1492;<ref name="MacManus343"/> however, according to [[Samuel Eliot Morison|Morison]] and Miss Gould{{clarify|date=January 2018}}, who made a detailed study of the crew list of 1492, no Irish or English sailors were involved in the voyage.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Paolo Emilio Taviani|first=Paolo Emilio|last=Taviani|title=Christopher Columbus|page=[https://archive.org/details/christophercolum00tavi/page/376 376]|isbn=978-0-85613-922-2|year=1985|publisher=Orbis |url=https://archive.org/details/christophercolum00tavi/page/376}}</ref>
An English report of 1515 states that the Irish people were divided into over sixty Gaelic lordships and thirty Anglo-Irish lordships.<ref name="Nicholls">Nicholls <!--page number needed--></ref> The English term for these lordships was "nation" or "country".<ref name="Nicholls"/> The Irish term "''oireacht''" referred to both the territory and the people ruled by the lord.<ref name="Nicholls"/> Literally, it meant an "assembly", where the [[Brehon]]s would hold their courts upon hills to arbitrate the matters of the lordship.<ref name="Nicholls"/> Indeed, the Tudor lawyer [[John Davies (poet, born 1569)|John Davies]] described the Irish people with respect to their laws:
{{blockquote|There is no people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent (impartial) justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, as they may have the protection and benefit of the law upon which just cause they do desire it.<ref name="multiref1"/>}}
Another English commentator records that the assemblies were attended by "all the scum of the country"—the labouring population as well as the landowners.<ref name="Nicholls"/> While the distinction between "free" and "unfree" elements of the Irish people was unreal in legal terms, it was a social and economic reality.<ref name="Nicholls"/> Social mobility was usually downwards, due to social and economic pressures.<ref name="Nicholls"/> The ruling clan's "expansion from the top downwards" was constantly displacing commoners and forcing them into the margins of society.<ref name="Nicholls"/>
As a clan-based society, [[genealogy]] was all important.<ref name="Nicholls"/> Ireland 'was justly styled a "Nation of Annalists"'.<ref>MacManus, p 352</ref> The various branches of Irish learning—including law, poetry, history and genealogy, and medicine—were associated with hereditary learned families.<ref name="Jefferies">{{cite web|url=http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Culture__Religion_in_Tudor_Ireland_1494-1558 |title=Culture and Religion in Tudor Ireland, 1494–1558 |last=Jefferies |first=Dr. Henry A |publisher=[[University College Cork]] |access-date=23 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416173828/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Culture__Religion_in_Tudor_Ireland_1494-1558 |archive-date=16 April 2008 }}</ref> The poetic families included the [[Ó Dálaigh|Uí Dhálaigh]] (Daly) and the [[MacGrath (disambiguation)|MacGrath]].<ref name="Nicholls"/> Irish physicians, such as the O'Briens in [[Munster]] or the MacCailim Mor in the [[Western Isles]], were renowned in the courts of England, Spain, Portugal and the Low Countries.<ref name="multiref1">MacManus, p 348</ref> Learning was not exclusive to the hereditary learned families, however; one such example is [[Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa|Cathal Mac Manus]], the 15th century diocesan priest who wrote the ''[[Annals of Ulster]]''.<ref name="Jefferies"/> Other learned families included the [[Mac Aodhagáin|Mic Aodhagáin]] and [[Clan MacFhirbhisigh|Clann Fhir Bhisigh]].<ref name="Jefferies"/> It was this latter family which produced [[Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh]], the 17th century genealogist and compiler of the ''[[Leabhar na nGenealach]]''. (see also [[Irish medical families]]).
===Plantations===
{{See also|Plantations of Ireland|Ulster Scots people}}
[[File:Robert Boyle 0001.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Boyle]], Anglo-Irish scientist and [[Fathers of scientific fields#Chemistry|father of chemistry]], whose father [[Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork]] had settled in Ireland in the Munster plantations in 1580.]]
The 16th century [[Age of Discovery]] brought an interest among the English to colonize Ireland with the reign of the Tudors. King Henry IV established surrender and regrants to the Irish, but it was not until the Catholic queen [[Mary I of England]] who started the first plantations in Ireland in 1550, this would become the model for English colonization moving forward in Ireland and would later form the British imperial model<ref>{{cite web |url=https://colaisteeanna.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/History-Revision-The-Plantations.pdf |title=History Revision – The Plantations |website=colaisteeanna.ie |access-date=9 October 2021 |archive-date=16 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016233620/https://www.colaisteeanna.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/History-Revision-The-Plantations.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/29766019|jstor = 29766019|title = The Subjugation and Division of Ireland: Testing Ground for Colonial Policy|last1 = Hallinan|first1 = Conn Malachi|journal = Crime and Social Justice|year = 1977|issue = 8|pages = 53–57|access-date = 29 August 2021|archive-date = 29 August 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210829175954/https://www.jstor.org/stable/29766019|url-status = live}}</ref> The 1550 plantation counties were known as Philipstown (now Daingean) and Maryborough (now Portlaoise) named by the English planters at the time.<ref>An Act whereby the King and Queen's Majesties, and the Heires and Successors of the Queen, be entituled to the Countries of Leix, Slewmarge, Irry, Glimnaliry, and Offaily, and for making the same Countries Shire Grounds."; Phil. & Mar., 1556 c.2</ref> A group of explorers, known as the [[West Country Men]], were active in Ireland at around this time.
The [[Enterprise of Ulster]] which pitted [[Shane O'Neill (Irish chieftain)]] against [[Queen Elizabeth I]] was a total failure<ref>Martin Marix Evans; David Lyons (October 2003). A terrible beauty. Gill & Macmillan. Retrieved 25 February 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Andrews |first=Kenneth |title=Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1984 |page=184}}</ref><ref>Lennon p. 279</ref> This was followed by the somewhat successful first British-English colony the [[Plantations of Ireland|Munster planations]] which had a population of 4,000 in 1580 and in the 1620s may have grown to 16,000<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=MacCarthy-Morrogh |first=Michael |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/78864256.pdf |date=1983 |title=The Munster Plantation, 1583–1641 |publisher=Royal Holloway College, London University |access-date=29 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830002406/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/78864256.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Canny, Making Ireland British, p. 146</ref>
After the defeat of the Irish in Ulster in the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)]]; which was not exclusively confined to Ulster. The English would try again to colonize Ireland fearing another rebellion in Ulster, using previous colonial Irish endeavours as their influence. King James would succeed Queen Elizabeth the I, because King James I was previously King James VI of Scotland, he would plant both English and Scottish in the plantations of Ulster drawing upon the Munster Plantations, this proved to be the most successful they were settled in what's mostly Now Northern Ireland. The [[Plantations of Ireland]] introduced Tudor English settlers to Ireland, while The [[Plantation of Ulster]] in the 17th century introduced a great number of Scottish and to a lesser extent English as well as French [[Huguenot]]s as colonists. All previous endeavours were solely an English venture. The [[Lord Protector]] [[Oliver Cromwell]] (1653–1658) after the defeat of the Irish rebels would also plant New English in Ireland, known as the Protestant ascendency.
===Enlightenment Ireland===
{{See also|United Irishmen|Nicholas Callan|Protestant Ascendancy}}
There have been notable Irish scientists. The Anglo-Irish scientist [[Robert Boyle]] (1627–1691) is considered the [[fathers of scientific fields|father]] of [[chemistry]] for his book ''[[The Sceptical Chymist]]'', written in 1661.<ref>''Boyle on Atheism'' by J.J. MacIntosh (University of Toronto Press {{ISBN|978-0-8020-9018-8}}), page 6</ref> Boyle was an [[atomist]], and is best known for [[Boyle's Law]]. The [[hydrographer]] [[Rear Admiral (Royal Navy)|Rear Admiral]] [[Francis Beaufort]] (1774–1857), an Irish naval officer of Huguenot descent, was the creator of the [[Beaufort scale]] for indicating wind force. [[George Boole]] (1815–1864), the mathematician who invented [[Boolean algebra]], spent the latter part of his life in [[Cork (city)|Cork]]. The 19th century physicist [[George Johnstone Stoney|George Stoney]] introduced the idea and the name of the [[electron]]. He was the uncle of another notable physicist, [[George Francis FitzGerald|George FitzGerald]].
[[File:Jervas-JonathanSwift.jpg|thumb|Jonathan Swift, one of the foremost prose satirists in the English language]]
The Irish bardic system, along with the [[Gaels|Gaelic culture]] and learned classes, were upset by the plantations and went into decline. Among the last of the true bardic poets were [[Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig]] (c. 1580–1652) and [[Dáibhí Ó Bruadair]] (1625–1698). The Irish poets of the late 17th and 18th centuries moved toward more modern dialects. Among the most prominent of this period were [[Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta]], [[Peadar Ó Doirnín]], [[Art Mac Cumhaigh]], [[Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna]], and [[Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill]]. Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret "hedgeschools", in spite of the [[Penal laws (Ireland)|Penal laws]].<ref>MacManus, p 461</ref> A knowledge of [[Latin]] was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] in the mountain market-places of [[County Kerry]].<ref>MacManus, p 461–462</ref>
For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. [[Irish literature]] encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable [[Irish fiction|Irish writers]], playwrights and poets include [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Laurence Sterne]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Oliver Goldsmith]], [[James Joyce]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Bram Stoker]], [[W. B. Yeats|W.B. Yeats]], [[Seamus Heaney|Séamus Heaney]] and [[Brendan Behan]].{{cn|date=May 2025}}
===19th century===
{{Main|Anti-Irish racism}}
====The Great Famine / An Górta Mór====
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2020}}{{Main|Great Famine (Ireland)}}Known as ''An Górta Mór'' ("The Great Hunger") in the Irish language, during the famine millions of Irish people died and emigrated during Ireland's largest famine. The famine lasted from 1845 – 1849, and it was worst in the year 1847, which became known as Black '47. The famine occurred due to the extremely impoverished Irish population's staple food the potato being infected with [[Blight]], and the British administration appropriating all other crops and livestock to feed her armies abroad.<ref name="Montgomery2007">{{cite book|author=David R. Montgomery|title=Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations|url=https://archive.org/details/dirterosionofciv0000mont|url-access=registration|date=14 May 2007|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-93316-3}}</ref> This meant the crop failed and turned black. Starving people who tried to eat them would only vomit it back up soon afterwards. Soup kitchens were set up but made little difference. The British government produced little aid, only sending raw corn known as 'Peel's Brimstone' to Ireland. It was known by this name after the British Prime Minister at the time, [[Robert Peel]], and the fact that many Irish weren't aware of how to cook corn. This led to little or no improvement. The British government set up workhouses which were disease-ridden (with cholera, TB and others) but they also failed as little food was available and many died on arrival as they were overworked. Some British political figures at the time saw the famine as a purge from God to exterminate the majority of the native Irish population.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}
Irish people emigrated to escape the famine journeying predominantly to the east coast of the [[United States]], especially [[Boston]] and [[New York City|New York]], as well as [[Liverpool]] in England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Many records show the majority of Irish emigrants to Australia were in fact prisoners. A substantial proportion of these committed crimes in hopes of being extradited to Australia, favouring it to the persecution and hardships they endured in their homeland. Emigrants travelled on '[[Coffin ship|Coffin Ships']], which got their name from the often high mortality rates on board. Many died of disease or starved. Conditions on board were abysmal - tickets were expensive so stowaways were common, and little food stuff was given to passengers who were simply viewed as cargo in the eyes of the ship workers. Notable coffin ships include the [[Jeanie Johnston]] and the [[Dunbrody (1845)|Dunbrody]].
There are statues and memorials in Dublin, New York and other cities in memory of the famine. [[The Fields of Athenry]] is a late-20th century song about the Great Famine and is often sung at national team sporting events in memory and homage to those affected by the famine.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
The Great Famine is one of the biggest events in Irish history and is ingrained in the identity on the nation to this day. It was a major factor in [[Irish nationalism]] and Ireland's fight for independence during subsequent rebellions, as many Irish people felt a stronger need to regain independence from British rule after the famine.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
===20th century===
{{See also|Partition of Ireland|Irish Free State|Northern Ireland|Republic of Ireland}}
[[File:Chicks_and_Ducks_in_Galway_(8488799148).jpg|thumb|''A Market Square'' in Galway circa 1910]]
After the [[Irish War of Independence]] (1919–1921) the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] was signed which led to the formation of the independent [[Irish Free State]] (now the independent Republic of Ireland) which consisted of 26 of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. The remaining six counties in the northeast remained in the United Kingdom as [[Northern Ireland]]. It is predominantly religion, historical, and political differences that divide the two communities of ([[Irish nationalism|nationalism]] and [[Unionists (Ireland)|unionism]]). Four polls taken between 1989 and 1994 revealed that when asked to state their national identity, over 79% of Northern Irish Protestants replied "British" or "Ulster" with 3% or less replying "Irish", while over 60% of Northern Irish Catholics replied "Irish" with 13% or less replying "British" or "Ulster".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/research/nisas/rep5c2.htm |title=in, Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Fifth Report |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226220013/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/research/nisas/rep5c2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> A survey in 1999 showed that 72% of Northern Irish Protestants considered themselves "British" and 2% "Irish", with 68% of Northern Irish Catholics considering themselves "Irish" and 9% "British".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/NINATID.html |title=Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |date=9 May 2003 |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=10 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510203944/http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/NINATID.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The survey also revealed that 78% of Protestants and 48% of all respondents felt "Strongly British", while 77% of Catholics and 35% of all respondents felt "Strongly Irish". 51% of Protestants and 33% of all respondents felt "Not at all Irish", while 62% of Catholics and 28% of all respondents felt "Not at all British".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/BRITISH.html |title=Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |date=12 May 2003 |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610101029/http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/BRITISH.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/IRISH.html |title=Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |date=9 May 2003 |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=10 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610101003/http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1999/Community_Relations/IRISH.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}
==Recent history==
{{See also|Demographics of the Republic of Ireland|Demographics of Northern Ireland}}
===Religion in Ireland===
[[File:Group of men, Corpus Christi procession, Cahir, Co. Tipperary (21890973583).jpg|thumb|[[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] procession in [[Tipperary (town)|Tipperary]] in 1963]]
In the [[Republic of Ireland]], as of 2022, 3.5 million people or about 69.1% of the population are Catholic.<ref>{{cite web | date = 30 May 2023 | title = Population Usually Resident and Present in the State | url = https://data.cso.ie/table/FY032 | publisher = CSO.ie | agency = Central Statistics Office | access-date = 2 June 2023 | archive-date = 28 September 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160254/https://data.cso.ie/ | url-status = live }}</ref> In [[Northern Ireland]], about 41.6% of the population are Protestant (19.1% Presbyterian, 13.7% Church of Ireland, 3.0% Methodist, 5.8% other Christian) whilst approximately 40.8% are Catholic as of 2011.
<!--Conversely, some Irish people would have at least some degree of English or Scottish ancestry. Irish of partial English background are most common in the [[Dublin]] area, descended from settlers in the [[English Pale]], along with a large but undetermined number of English Catholic [[recusant]]s who moved there to escape compulsory attendance at the [[Church of England]]. Scottish origin is especially common among Irish Catholics in [[Ulster]], and are mainly of [[gallowglass]] [[Scottish Highlander]] origin. The Irish surname "Walsh" was routinely given to settlers of [[Welsh people|Welsh]] origin.-->
The 31st [[International Eucharistic Congress]] was held in [[Dublin]] in 1932, that year being the supposed 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's arrival. Ireland was then home to 3,171,697 Catholics, about a third of whom attended the Congress.<ref name="Time1932">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753335-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208202653/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753335-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 December 2008 |title=In Dublin |work=Time Magazine |date=20 June 1932 |access-date= 23 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_31st_International_Eucharistic_Congress_Dublin_1932 |title=The 31st International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin, 1932 |author=John Paul McCarthy |author2=Tomás O'Riordan |publisher=[[University College Cork]] |quote=Newspapers and contemporaries estimated that close to a million souls had converged on the Phoenix Park for the climax of the Congress |access-date=23 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416181018/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_31st_International_Eucharistic_Congress_Dublin_1932 |archive-date=16 April 2008}}</ref> It was noted in ''[[Time Magazine]]'' that the Congress' special theme would be "the Faith of the Irish".<ref name="Time1932"/> The massive crowds were repeated at Pope [[John Paul II]]'s [[Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland|Mass in Phoenix Park]] in 1979.<ref>The figure 1,250,000 is mentioned on the commemorative stone at the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park, Dublin; a quarter of the population of the island of Ireland, or a third of the population of Republic of Ireland</ref> The idea of faith has affected the question of Irish identity even in relatively recent times, apparently more so for Catholics and Irish-Americans. Today the majority of Irish people in the [[Republic of Ireland]] identify as Catholic, although church attendance has significantly dropped in recent decades. In [[Northern Ireland]], where almost 50% of the population is [[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]], there has also been a decline in attendances.
{{blockquote|What defines an Irishman? His faith, his place of birth? What of the Irish-Americans? Are they Irish? Who is more Irish, a Catholic Irishman such as [[James Joyce]] who is trying to escape from his Catholicism and from his Irishness, or a Protestant Irishman like [[Oscar Wilde]] who is eventually becoming Catholic? Who is more Irish... someone like [[C. S. Lewis]], an Ulster Protestant, who is walking towards it, even though he never ultimately crosses the threshold?<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |title=Editorial: The Celtic Enigma |journal=[[St. Austin Review]] |volume=7 |date=March–April 2007 |issue=2 |page=1 |publisher=Sapientia Press |___location=Ave Maria University, Naples, Florida}}</ref>}}
This has been a matter of concern over the last century for the followers of nationalist ideologists such as [[D. P. Moran]].
===Irish identity===
[[File:St Patrick's Day Parade, Waterville 2012.JPG|thumb|left|A [[St Patrick's Day]] parade in [[County Kerry]]]]
[[File:1998-Folk-Confolens 09.JPG|thumb|Irish dancers, 1998]]
[[Thomas Davis (Young Irelander)|Thomas Davis]], a prominent [[Protestant Irish nationalists|Protestant Irish nationalist]] and founder of the Irish nationalist [[Young Ireland]] movement, identified the Irish as a [[Celtic nation]].<ref name="davis">{{cite web|author=Thomas Davis|url=http://www.from-ireland.net/our-national-language-thomas-osborne-davis/|title=Our National Language|publisher=From-Ireland.net|date=28 February 2013|access-date=18 October 2016|archive-date=19 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019081303/http://www.from-ireland.net/our-national-language-thomas-osborne-davis/|url-status=live}}</ref> He estimated that ethnically, 5/6ths of the nation were either of Gaelic Irish-origin, or descended from returned Scottish Gaels (including much of the [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]]) and some Celtic Welsh (such as his own ancestors and those carrying surnames such as Walsh and Griffiths).<ref name="davis"/> As part of this he was a staunch supporter of the [[Irish language]] as the "national language".<ref name="davis"/> In regards to the Germanic minority in Ireland (of Norman and Anglo-Saxon origin) he believed that they could be assimilated into Irishness if they had a "willingness to be part of the Irish Nation".<ref>{{cite web |author=Thomas Davis – Dame Street |url=http://dublinstreets.osx128.com/dublin-statues-monuments/thomas-davis/ |title=90,000 Photographs By William Murphy – 90,000 Photographs By William Murphy |publisher=Dublinstreets.osx128.com |date=17 March 2012 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140327050928/http://dublinstreets.osx128.com/dublin-statues-monuments/thomas-davis/ |archive-date=27 March 2014}}</ref>
===Europe===
The [[Republic of Ireland]] and the [[United Kingdom]] joined the [[European Community]] in 1973, and Irish citizens became additionally [[Citizenship of the European Union|Citizens of the European Union]] with the [[Maastricht Treaty]] signed in 1992. This brought a further question for the future of Irish identity; whether Ireland was "closer to [[Boston]] than to [[Berlin]]:"
{{blockquote|History and geography have placed Ireland in a very special ___location between America and Europe... As Irish people our relationships with the United States and the [[European Union]] are complex. Geographically we are closer to Berlin than Boston. Spiritually we are probably a lot closer to Boston than Berlin. – [[Mary Harney]], [[Tánaiste]], 2000<ref>Aldous, p 185</ref>}}
==Irish diaspora==
{{Main|Irish diaspora}}
{{See also|Irish American|Irish Argentine|Irish Chilean|Irish Australian|Irish Brazilian|Irish Canadian|Irish Mexicans|Irish people in Jamaica|Irish community in Britain|Scots-Irish American|Montserrat}}
[[File:Ohiggins.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bernardo O'Higgins]], a founding father of Chile.]]
[[File:Leopoldo ODonnell.jpg|thumb|left|[[General officer|General]] [[Leopoldo O'Donnell|Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan]], [[Grandee|Grandee of Spain]] and [[Prime Minister of Spain|President of the Council of Ministers of Spain]]]]
The Irish diaspora consists of Irish [[emigration|emigrants]] and their descendants in [[country|countries]] such as the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and nations of the [[Caribbean]] such as [[Jamaica]] and [[Barbados]]. These countries all have large minorities of Irish descent, who in addition form the core of the Catholic Church in those countries.
Many famous and influential figures have claimed Irish ancestry such as [[Che Guevara]], [[Walt Disney]], [[Barack Obama]], [[John F. Kennedy|JFK]], [[Muhammad Ali]] and ''[[Marshal of France|Maréchal]]'' [[Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta|The 1st Duke of Magenta]], the second [[President of the French Republic|President]] of the [[Third Republic of France|Third Republic]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}
Many Irish people were also transported to the island of [[Montserrat]], to work as [[indentured servants]], exiled prisoners or slaves. Unlike [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]] [[chattel slaves]], the majority of Irish labourers who were sent to Montserrat did so by personal choice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyireland.com/volume-24/the-irish-in-the-anglo-caribbean-servants-or-slaves/|title=The Irish in the Anglo-Caribbean: servants or slaves? - History Ireland|date=29 February 2016|access-date=13 May 2017|archive-date=6 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506234049/http://www.historyireland.com/volume-24/the-irish-in-the-anglo-caribbean-servants-or-slaves/|url-status=live}}</ref> Some were Irish Confederate troops exiled by the English Parliamentarian [[Oliver Cromwell]] following the [[Irish Confederate Wars]]. The African slave population on the island attempted a rebellion against the Irish plantation owners on 17 March 1768. The date was chosen with the idea that the plantation owners would be distracted by St. Patrick's day festivities, but the plot was ultimately discovered and several of those involved were put to death. To this day, the Island celebrates [[St. Patrick's Day]] as a public holiday to commemorate the revolt and honour those who lost their lives.<ref>{{cite book |title=Gallery Montserrat: some prominent people in our history |last=Fergus |first=Howard A |year=1996 |publisher=Canoe Press University of West Indies |isbn=978-976-8125-25-5 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DD81ZHWhxgC&pg=PA83 |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160251/https://books.google.com/books?id=2DD81ZHWhxgC&pg=PA83#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> People of Irish descent also feature strongly in Latin America, especially in [[Argentina]] and important minorities in [[Brazil]], Chile, and [[Mexico]]. In 1995, President [[Mary Robinson]] reached out to the "70 million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irelandroots.com/roots4.htm |title=Ireland's Diaspora |publisher=Irelandroots.com |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=18 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218031334/http://www.irelandroots.com/roots4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Today the [[diaspora]] is believed to contain an estimated 80 million people.<ref name="Diaspora">[http://www.discoverireland.com/us/about-ireland/history/ The island history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804024816/http://www.discoverireland.com/us/about-ireland/history/ |date=4 August 2013 }}, discoverireland.com</ref>
[[File:PatriceMacMahon.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Marshal of France|Maréchal]]'' [[Patrice de Mac-Mahon, Duke of Magenta|The 1st Duke of Magenta]], military commander and, later, [[President of the French Republic]]]]
[[File:Guillermo Brown, por Henry Herve.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Brown (admiral)|William Brown]], Argentine national hero of the [[Argentine War of Independence|War of Independence]], considered the father of the [[Argentine Navy]].]]
There are also large Irish communities in some mainland European countries, notably in Spain, France and Germany. Between 1585 and 1818, over half a million Irish departed Ireland to serve in the wars on the Continent, in a constant emigration romantically styled the"[[Flight of the Wild Geese]]" and, before that, in the '[[Flight of the Earls]]', just before the [[Plantation of Ulster]].<ref name="WildGeese">{{cite web|url=http://www.ospreypublishing.com/text_search.aspx?TextSearch=Wild%20Geese&Group=1|title=The Wild Geese, Men-at-Arms 102|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208194501/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/text_search.aspx?TextSearch=Wild%20Geese&Group=1|archive-date=8 December 2008}}</ref> In the early years of the [[English Civil War]], a French traveller remarked that the Irish "are better soldiers abroad than at home".<ref>McLaughlin, p4</ref> Later, Irish brigades in France and Spain would fight in the [[War of the Spanish Succession|Wars of the Spanish]] and [[War of the Austrian Succession|Austrian Succession]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name="WildGeese"/> In the words of [[Field Marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|The 1st Duke of Wellington]], the Irish-born 'Iron Duke', a notable representative of the [[Irish military diaspora]], "Ireland was an inexhaustible nursery for the finest soldiers".<ref>Davies, p 832</ref>
The [[British Legions]] were units that [[Military career of Simón Bolívar|fought under Simón Bolívar]] against Spain for the independence of [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Ecuador]], and [[Peru]]. Venezuelans called them the [[Albion]] Legion. They were composed of over seven thousand volunteers, mainly [[Napoleonic Wars|Napoleonic War]] veterans from [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain and Ireland]]. Volunteers in the British Legion were motivated by a combination of both genuine [[political]] and [[mercenary]] motives.<ref name=MBrown210>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Matthew |title=Adventuring through Spanish Colonies: Simón Bolívar, Foreign Mercenaries and the Birth of New Nations |publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] |year=2006 |page=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfQXAAAAYAAJ&q=jack&pg=PA210 |isbn=9781846310447 |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928160252/https://books.google.com/books?id=VfQXAAAAYAAJ&q=jack&pg=PA210 |url-status=live }}</ref> The most famous cause of emigration was the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] of the late 1840s. A million are thought to have emigrated to [[Liverpool]] as a result of the famine.<ref>David Ross, ''Ireland: History of a Nation'', New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset, 2002, p. 226. {{ISBN|1-84205-164-4}}</ref> For both the Irish in Ireland and those in the resulting [[Irish diaspora|diaspora]], the famine entered [[folk memory]]<ref>The Famine that affected Ireland from 1845 to 1852 has become an integral part of folk legend. Kenealy, ''This Great Calamity'', p. 342.</ref> and became a rallying point for various [[Irish nationalism|nationalist movements]].
There are [[Afro-Caribbean]] people descended from [[Irish Caribbean|Irish immigrants in the Caribbean]], especially on [[Barbados]], [[Jamaica]], and [[Montserrat]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Montserrat Article|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~dgarvey/genealogy/Garvey_us_census/Montserrat.html|website=freepages.rootsweb.com|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801221248/http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~dgarvey/genealogy/Garvey_us_census/Montserrat.html|url-status=live}}</ref> They often have Irish surnames, speak a form of [[Caribbean English]] influenced by the Irish vernacular and, in some cases, sing Irish songs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Black Irish|url=https://www.rte.ie//archives/exhibitions/1378-radharc/355633-the-black-irish/|website=RTÉ Archives|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=21 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621220132/https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1378-radharc/355633-the-black-irish/|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:John Carroll Gilbert Stuart.jpg|thumb|left|[[John Carroll (bishop)|John Carroll]], first Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States]]
[[File:Comonfort.png|thumb|left|[[Ignacio Comonfort]] 25th president of Mexico]]
People of Irish descent are the second largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, after [[German American]]s. Nine of the signatories of the [[American Declaration of Independence]] were of Irish origin.<ref name="irishpresidents">{{cite web|url=http://irishamericanheritage.com/ProcWebPages/1995.htm |title=Irish-American History Month, 1995 |publisher=irishamericanheritage.com |access-date=25 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509054147/http://irishamericanheritage.com/ProcWebPages/1995.htm |archive-date=9 May 2008}}</ref> Among them was the sole Catholic signatory, [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]], whose family were the descendants of Ely O'Carroll, an Irish prince who had suffered under Cromwell.<ref>[http://www.visitmaryland.org/PressRoom/Pages/MarylandTracesitsIrishRootsar.aspx Maryland Traces Its Irish Roots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619183443/http://www.visitmaryland.org/PressRoom/Pages/MarylandTracesitsIrishRootsar.aspx |date=19 June 2013 }}, Maryland Office of Tourism</ref> At least twenty-five [[President of the United States|presidents of the United States]] have some Irish ancestral origins, including [[George Washington]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://irishamericanheritage.com/Presidents.htm |title=Presidents of the United States with "Irish Roots" |publisher=irishamericanheritage.com |access-date=25 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929120908/http://irishamericanheritage.com/Presidents.htm |archive-date=29 September 2008 }}</ref><!--Taft--><ref name="whtaft">{{cite web |first=John T |last=Marck |url=http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1118.html |title=William H. Taft |publisher=aboutfamouspeople.com |access-date=25 June 2008 |archive-date=12 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512145757/http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1118.html |url-status=live }}</ref><!--Harding--><ref name="hardingquest">{{cite web |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/harding.html |title=Warren Gamaliel Harding |publisher=thinkquest.com |access-date=25 June 2008 |archive-date=28 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328023209/http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/harding.html |url-status=live }}</ref><!--Truman--><ref name="abouttruman">{{cite web |first=John T |last=Marck |url=http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1124.html |title=Harry S. Truman |publisher=aboutfamouspeople.com |access-date=25 June 2008 |archive-date=12 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512091831/http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1124.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since [[John F. Kennedy]] took office in 1961, every American President (with the exception of [[Gerald Ford]] and [[Donald Trump]]) has had some Irish blood.<ref name="DIG">{{cite web |url=http://homepage.eircom.net/%257Eseanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm |title=American Presidents with Irish Ancestors |publisher=Directory of Irish Genealogy |access-date=25 June 2008 |archive-date=26 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926132917/http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/the-man-who-made-trump-who-he-is-121647/ |title=The Man Who Made Trump Who He Is |newspaper=Politico Magazine |publisher=Politico |access-date=24 January 2017 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428214907/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/the-man-who-made-trump-who-he-is-121647 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/donald-trump-ancestry-scotland/ |title=Donald Trump's Scottish roots: How a tiny island could shape a President |date=2 November 2016 |publisher=CNN |access-date=24 January 2017 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202044759/http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/donald-trump-ancestry-scotland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> An Irish-American, [[James Hoban]], was the designer of the [[White House]]. [[John Barry (naval officer)|Commodore John Barry]], who was born in [[County Wexford]], was the "Father of the [[United States Navy]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/people/commodorebarry.htm |title=Commodore Barry |access-date=25 June 2007 |author=John Barry Kelly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805232138/http://www.ushistory.org/people/commodorebarry.htm |archive-date=5 August 2013 }}</ref>
[[File:JFK-John Barry Memorial.jpg|thumb|[[John F. Kennedy]] visiting the [[John Barry (naval officer)|John Barry]] Memorial in [[Wexford]], Ireland]]
In the mid-19th century, large numbers of Irish immigrants were conscripted into [[Irish regiments]] of the [[United States Army]] at the time of the [[Mexican–American War]]. The vast majority of the 4,811 Irish-born soldiers served in the U.S. Army, but some deserted to the [[Mexican Army]], primarily to escape mistreatment by Protestant officers and the strong anti-Catholic discrimination in America.<ref name="Connaughton">{{cite web |title=Beneath an Emerald Green Flag, The Story of Irish Soldiers in Mexico |url=http://www.irlandeses.org/sanpatriciosB.htm |author=Michael G. Connaughton |publisher=The Society for Irish Latin American Studies |date=September 2005 |access-date=12 July 2008 |archive-date=28 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828105753/http://www.irlandeses.org/sanpatriciosB.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> These were the ''San Patricios'', or [[Saint Patrick's Battalion]]—a group of Irish led by [[Galway]]-born [[John O'Riley]], with some [[Roman Catholicism in Germany|German]], [[Roman Catholicism in Scotland|Scottish]] and [[Roman Catholicism in the United States|American Catholics]].<ref name="Connaughton"/> They fought until their surrender at the decisive [[Battle of Churubusco]], and were executed outside [[Mexico City]] by the American government on 13 September 1847.<ref name="Connaughton"/> The battalion is commemorated in Mexico each year on 12 September.<ref>{{cite web |title=The San Patricios: Mexico's Fighting Irish |url=http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/img/more_san_ps.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000303201659/http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/img/more_san_ps.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 March 2000 |author=Mark R. Day |access-date=12 July 2008}}</ref>
During the 18th and 19th centuries, 300,000 free emigrants and 45,000 convicts left Ireland to settle in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/australia/index.htm|title=Botany Bay 1791–1867|last=Ryan|first=Sean|year=2006|publisher=Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library Portumna, Co. Galway|access-date=27 May 2009|archive-date=5 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005184041/http://indigo.ie/~wildgees/australia/index.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Today, Australians of Irish descent are one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Australia, after English and Australian. In the 2006 [[Australian Census|Census]], 1,803,741 residents identified themselves as having Irish ancestry either alone or in combination with another ancestry.<ref>{{Census 2006 AUS | id = 0 | name = Australia | quick = on | accessdate=25 July 2007}}</ref> However this figure does not include Australians with an Irish background who chose to nominate themselves as 'Australian' or other ancestries. The Australian embassy in Dublin states that up to thirty per cent of the population claim some degree of Irish ancestry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ireland.embassy.gov.au/dubl/relations.html |title=Australia- Ireland relationship – Australian Embassy |publisher=Ireland.embassy.gov.au |access-date=28 March 2010 |archive-date=13 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113041122/http://www.ireland.embassy.gov.au/dubl/relations.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
It is believed that as many as 30,000 Irish people emigrated to Argentina between the 1830s and the 1890s.<ref name="Argentina"/> This was encouraged by the clergy, as they considered a Catholic country, Argentina, preferable to a more Protestant United States. This flow of emigrants dropped sharply when assisted passage to Australia was introduced at which point the Argentine government responded with their own scheme and wrote to Irish bishops, seeking their support. However, there was little or no planning for the arrival of a large number of immigrants, no housing, no food.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Cole|first1=Patrick|title=Irish Emigrants to the Argentine Republic|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000264/18890329/059/0008|access-date=29 November 2015|publisher=Western Daily Press|date=29 March 1889|via = [[British Newspaper Archive]] |url-access=subscription |quote=It is a sad and pitiable sight to see Irish mothers with, in some cases, their dying babes in their arms ... ... in many cases mothers sold their clothing from their backs to procure food for their starving children}}</ref> Many died, others made their way to the United States and other destinations, some returned to Ireland, a few remained and prospered. [[Thomas Croke]] Archbishop of Cashel, said: "I most solemnly conjure my poorer countrymen, as they value their happiness hereafter, never to set foot on the Argentine Republic however tempted to do so they may be by offers of a passage or an assurance of comfortable homes."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wander-argentina.com/the-irish-in-argentina/|title=The Irish in Argentina|date=16 March 2010|publisher=Wander Argentina|access-date=29 November 2015|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813031312/https://wander-argentina.com/the-irish-in-argentina/|url-status=live}}</ref> Some notable Argentines of Irish descent and Irish people who settled in Argentina include [[Che Guevara]], former president [[Edelmiro Julián Farrell]], and admiral [[William Brown (admiral)|William Brown]].
There are people of Irish descent all over South America, such as the Chilean liberator [[Bernardo O'Higgins]] and the Peruvian photographer [[Mario Testino]]. Although some Irish retained their surnames intact, others were assimilated into the Spanish vernacular. The last name ''O'Brien'', for example, became ''Obregón''.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
People of Irish descent are also one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Canada, after [[English Canadian|English]], [[French Canadian|French]] and [[Scottish Canadian]]s. As of 2006, [[Irish Canadian]]s number around 4,354,155.<ref name="CanadaCensus"/>
==See also==
{{portal|Ireland}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Anglo Irish]]
* [[Ethnic groups in Europe]]
* [[Hiberno-Normans]]
* [[Irish Travellers]]
* [[List of Americans of Irish descent]]
* [[List of expatriate Irish populations]]
* [[List of Ireland-related topics]]
* [[List of Irish people]]
* [[Norse–Gaels]]
* [[
* [[
* [[The Ireland Funds]]
* [[
* [[
{{div col end}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=N}}
== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}
<!-- Dead note "buzzle.com": The following article discusses St. Patrick's Celebrations in Buenos Aires 2005 {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050320221438/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-18-2005-67281.asp]}}. -->
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<!-- Dead note "eurodna": [http://ancestrybydna.com/welcome/productsandservices/eurodna/manual/ Euro-DNA manual], DNAPrint. Retrieved 16 September 2006. -->
<!-- Dead note "yirish": {{note label|yirish|1|a}} ''Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins'' [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/heaven/dnairish.pdf.pdf PDF File]. Emmeline W. Hill, Mark A. Jobling, Daniel G. Bradley. ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', Vol 404, 23 March 2000. Retrieved 30 December 2005. -->
<!-- Dead note "neo": ''EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS: Europeans Trace Ancestry to Paleolithic People''[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/sci;290/5494/1080 Abstract], Ann Gibbons, Science, 10 November 2000: Vol. 290. no. 5494, pp. 1080 - 1081. Retrieved 30 December 2005. -->
<!-- Dead note "ybritish": {{note label|ybritish|9|a}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00373-7 | volume=13 | title=A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles | year=2003 | journal=Current Biology | pages=979–984 | last1 = Capelli | first1 = Cristian | pmid=12781138}}
* Lehmann, Winfred P., 1997. 'Early Celtic among the Indo-European Dialects'. Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 49–50. 440–454. [http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/pasfull/pasfull.nsf/web/Reference+Reports+2001+Census:+Ethnic+Groups+2001+TableEthnic+group+-+up+to+three+responses+(total+responses)+and+sex,+for+the+census+usually+resident+population+count,+1991,+1996+and+2001/$FILE/Table%202a.xls Irish people in New Zealand] -->
==References==
* {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Aldous |title=Great Irish Speeches |year=2007 |publisher=Quercus Publishing PLC |___location=London |isbn=978-1-84724-195-5}}
* {{cite book |author=Davies, Norman |title=Europe: A History |url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=Oxford |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-820171-7}}
* {{cite book |first=Steven G. |last=Ellis |title=Tudor Ireland: Crown, Community, and the Conflict of Cultures, 1470–1603 |year=1985 |publisher=Longman |___location=Great Britain |isbn=978-0-582-49341-4}}
* [http://www.libraryireland.com/Names.php Irish Names - origins and meanings] at Library Ireland
* {{cite book |first=Seamus |last=MacManus |title=The Story of the Irish Race: A Popular History of Ireland |year=1921 |publisher=The Irish Publishing Co |___location=Ireland |isbn=978-0-517-06408-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofirishrace00macmrich |access-date=17 March 2013}}
* {{cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Mark G. |others=Christopher Warner, illustrator |title=The Wild Geese: The Irish Brigades of France and Spain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJlzoC_RdhEC |year=1980 |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-85045-358-4 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book |first=Kenneth W. |last=Nicholls |title=Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages |year=1972 |publisher=Gill and Macmillan |isbn=978-0-7171-0561-8}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Stephen Oppenheimer |last=Oppenheimer |first=Stephen |title=The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786718900 |year=2006 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=978-0-7867-1890-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Sykes |first=Bryan |author-link=Brian Sykes |title=Blood of the Isles: Exploring the Genetic Roots of Our Tribal History |year=2006 |publisher=DNA, Fossil |isbn=978-0-593-05652-3}}
* {{cite book |title=The Art of Gothic: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting |last=Toman |first=Rolf |others=photography by Achim Bednorz |year=2007 |publisher=[[Tandem Verlag GmbH]] |isbn=978-3-8331-4676-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Various |editor1-last=Smiley |editor1-first=Jane |title=The Sagas of Icelanders |url=http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141000039,00.html |year=2001 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-100003-9 |access-date=3 July 2008 |archive-date=16 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916234712/http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141000039,00.html |url-status=dead }}
==External links==
{{Commons category|People of Ireland}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180324152901/http://bloodoftheirish.com/ ''Blood of the Irish'']}}—Documentary about Irish genetic history
{{Ireland topics|expanded=Culture}}
{{Celts}}
{{British Isles|Great Britain, Ireland, and related islands}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish People}}
[[Category:Irish people| ]]
[[Category:Gaels| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Ireland]]
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