I am confused . People say I live in Ireland. So are they Irish or British as N. Ireland is British?

Question

I know many people in north get offended if you cal them Irish

Answer 1

Just because they live in Ireland doesn't make them Irish.

Answer 2

Ireland is the whole island.

N. Ireland is just the part of Ireland that is controlled by Great Britain.

N. Irish people are always Irish, but if they support the UK governing N. Ireland, then they also consider themselves British.

But they are always Irish, so it's safer to call them such (Irish Republicans will be offended if you call them British, but not vice versa in most cases).

It's complicated, so I suggest you figure out their politics first if you can (general-but-not-set-in-stone rule= Catholic= Irish, Protestant=British).

N. Irish people are complicated that way. Sorry. I didn't create the last 800-odd years.

Answer 3

People who live in Northern Ireland are Irish by Geography and British by law. No wonder you're confused.

Answer 4

I live in the North of Ireland and was born in the North of Ireland. I am Irish. I am not British!!

Ireland is a 32- county island which was wrongfully occupied by the British. The treaty in the '20s partitioned the country, meaning that us in the North are considered part of the U.K. If you said i was British, i would be offended!!

Answer 5

They're Irish in my opinion.

= )

Answer 6

as someone from southern ireland the way i and a lot of others view it (right or wrong)is that  in northern ireland if ur catholic ur irish and if protestant then ur british!

Answer 7

Boy there's some rubbish talked here!!! Northern Irish people can be both Irish and British. Read up on the Anglo Irish Accord - people may chose either or both. It is not true that those born in Northern Ireland are NOT technically British. That's hogwash.

Northern Ireland is NOT governed by Great Britain, it is a part of the UK and governed by UK policy.

The Republic of Ireland laid claim, until the above mentioned accord, to the northern six counties and in so doing so bestowed Irish citizenship upon those born there.

So - obviously those born in the Republic are Irish - but not British - and those in Northern Ireland may have both. You may notice that there's a few who really do not wish to be known as Irish who reside in NI. That is their right.

Answer 8

You live on the Island of Ireland, that's why they are saying you are Irish. I am Scottish, so believe me, I know most of us would say we are Scots before we'd say we were British, it's just the way it is.

Answer 9

Personally I would be offended if someone called me British. I am from the North of Ireland and I chose to have an Irish passport. Therefore I am definetely not British. Where I am from(south Armagh) the majority if not all people call themselves Irish, it just depends on the area in the north.

Answer 10

I am English, not British,

The Scots don't want to be British, or the Welsh, nor the Irish, is it only the English who have to be British these days?

Gordon Brown wants England wiping off the Map, by breaking England up into regions, maybe this is why the English have to be British, eh?

Answer 11

I would say that if you hold a British passport then you are a citizen of the United Kingdom and could call yourself British. However, I believe that citizens of Northern Ireland are also entitled to hold an Irish passport. Those that have chosen to do this could rightly call themselves Irish. Before partition everyone from the island of Ireland, although being British citizens were universally referred to as Irish regardless of religion or location.

Answer 12

People from Northern Ireland can be either.  They are entitled to citizenship of both countries, but some people would refer to themselves as British only and others would refer to themselves as Irish only.

If someone says "I live in Ireland", they are probably referring to the republic rather than Northern Ireland, since "Ireland" is the name of the country.

Answer 13

The irish live in Ireland, the British live in Britian

Answer 14

Im from northern ireland =)

great britain - scotland wales & england

uk - scotland wales england & n.i.

people from the RoI prefer being Irish wereas people from NI prefer being british

i dont no why.... just the way it is i suppose

Answer 15

I live in Northern Ireland and I am definitely not Irish!

Answer 16

technically Irish people from Northern Ireland are not British.  They are citizens of the United Kingdom, just not British.

To be British, you would have to be a citizen of Great Britain.

If you have a look on the front of a U.K. passport, you will see that it says 'United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland'.  This suggests to me that Ireland is part of the U.K. but not part of Great Britain.

If it was part of Great Britain, there would be no need to mention it independently on the front of a passport.

Remember your passport is a government issued document.

You would undoubtedly find that most people will not identify themselves as British.  I am English and identify myself as such, Scottish people will identify themselves as Scottish, or from Scotland and the same with Welsh people.  To refer to everyone as British seems like a loss of national identity.

Answer 17

In my opinion it varies from person to person. I know people from the north who consider themsleves Irish so i do to. If they dont consider themsleves Irish then i dont either.

Answer 18

I think that part of the problem is that when you're using the Internet and writing like this, you don't hear their accents. The accent in the North is quite distinctive, and when you know the various regional accents, there's little confusing.

Of course when people are simply writing here on Yahoo Answers, they could say they're from anywhere.

Answer 19

If you live in Ireland, north or south then you are Irish. If you live in Northern Ireland your are a British citizen though still Irish. If you live in Southern Ireland you are Irish and have no British citizenship. The Welsh are Welsh though they to are British citizens.