Are Irish Gaels related to native Britons?

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

Like the Welsh, and the Cornish, if so how close are they?

[Fear Fiain]

Like the Welsh, and the Cornish, if so how close are they?

the languages diverged on the continent.
the q celtic languages (gaelic/goidelic) are related to celto-iberian languages, as evidenced by inscriptions found in spain.
the p celtic languages(brythonic) are related to gaulish, and to inscriptions and coins from france, belgium, etc.
The gaelic languages (irish, scottish, manx) are more closely related to eachother than the british celtic languages are to one another.
this seems to fit with the idea of a mass migration from iberia to hibernia in relatively late prehistory, which is recorded in our people's oral histories.

hope I've been of help to you.
Aontaithe gCeilteach, mo bhuchaill. :)

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

bump

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

bump

[Grace O'Malley]

Yes they are. The shift from Q to P as per Gaelic and Brythonic is not thought to be important in the languages because they share far more with each other than differences. It is thought that the Irish missed out on the shift to P Celtic during a period of isolation from Britain and the continent.

In the P/Q classification schema, the first language to split off from Proto-Celtic was Gaelic. It has characteristics that some scholars see as archaic, but others see as also being in the Brittonic languages (see Schmidt). In the Insular/Continental classification schema, the split of the former into Gaelic and Brittonic is seen as being late.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_languages

Genetically these populations are all very close but we have discussed this previously on other threads. All North Western European populations are quite similar genetically.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Yes, I believe so.

[Ó Ciardubhain]

It's been proven that classifications like Gaelic have no genetic usage other than a linguistic and cultural one. Celts largely integrated when they came somewhere, they certainly didn't genocide the native population and supplant them.
I would say by virtue of geographic closeness, the Britons(English, Wales, Scotland) are the closest racial group to the Irish genetically although we have a long antagonistic history which I believe are dissipating now at the face of larger foes that threathen the whole of the West and our very existence as Europeans.