"The English invade other countries for the Irish to settle them". Discuss.

[Tooting Carmen]

It is a semi-joke I often tell to my Irish in-laws, to which they usually laugh and agree. Despite not having any former colonies as such, the Irish diaspora in many places is absolutely enormous: the UK, Canada, US, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Argentina... Far more than the Welsh and even Scottish diasporas. How did an island on the edge of Europe whose population (Republic + NI combined) is only around 6-7 million become such an exceptionally important source of migration globally, especially since they never had any economic or military colonies?

[Andullero]

It is a semi-joke I often tell to my Irish in-laws, to which they usually laugh and agree. Despite not having any former colonies as such, the Irish diaspora in many places is absolutely enormous: the UK, Canada, US, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Argentina... Far more than the Welsh and even Scottish diasporas. How did an island on the edge of Europe whose population (Republic + NI combined) is only around 6-7 million become such an exceptionally important source of migration globally, especially since they never had any economic or military colonies?

Pre-Industrial Revolution I think it was more of a demographic calculus: To clear the island from the Catholic/Gaelic undesirables in order to make it more amenable to Anglo-Protestant settlement and land appropiation. Later on, they would become sort of a reserve army with which to bust sindicalization at the home UK front, or so I see in some Marxist journals.

[Tooting Carmen]

Pre-Industrial Revolution I think it was more of a demographic calculus: To clear the island from the Catholic/Gaelic undesirables in order to make it more amenable to Anglo-Protestant settlement and land appropiation. Later on, they would become sort of a reserve army with which to bust sindicalization at the home UK front, or so I see in some Marxist journals.

Yes, even in the factories and mines of South Wales, there were some anti-Irish riots, because they were accused of undercutting locals' wages.

[Tooting Carmen]

Pre-Industrial Revolution I think it was more of a demographic calculus: To clear the island from the Catholic/Gaelic undesirables in order to make it more amenable to Anglo-Protestant settlement and land appropiation. Later on, they would become sort of a reserve army with which to bust sindicalization at the home UK front, or so I see in some Marxist journals.

I would be only moderately exaggerating by claiming that, until at least the 1970's, many British people (whether English, Scottish or Welsh) regarded Ireland almost the same way you lot regard Haiti: an impoverished hellhole whose main exports were poverty, superstition and violence. (Of course it is much more complex and nuanced than that, but you know what I mean).

[Tooting Carmen]

Yes, even in the factories and mines of South Wales, there were some anti-Irish riots, because they were accused of undercutting locals' wages.

Even today, whenever I read Wales Online's frequent lists of criminals wanted or jailed in Wales, I am amazed how many people among our underclass are of Irish descent, judging by the surnames.

[Andullero]

Even today, whenever I read Wales Online's frequent lists of criminals wanted or jailed in Wales, I am amazed how many people among our underclass are of Irish descent, judging by the surnames.

Which is ironic in more than one way, cuz the kingdom of Gwynedd (more or less, Dark Ages Wales) came into being fighting precisely Irish attempts at conquest and colonization of the place.

[Tooting Carmen]

Which is ironic in more than one way, cuz the kingdom of Gwynedd (more or less, Dark Ages Wales) came into being fighting precisely Irish attempts at conquest and colonization of the place.

Well the Irish ancestry among the contemporary British underclass is, if anything, even more prevalent elsewhere: London, the Midlands cities, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow...

N.B. I am not at all anti-Irish - they are some of the warmest and sweetest people I have had the pleasure to meet. Nevertheless, there is some truth to the claim that, for a long time, Ireland exported masses of poor people who were deeply and unshakeably Catholic (which was a trait of theirs that angered both Protestant conservatives and secular liberals alike) and a notable percentage of whom were involved in criminality.

[Andullero]

Well the Irish ancestry among the contemporary British underclass is, if anything, even more prevalent elsewhere: London, the Midlands cities, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow...

F.ex.: The Lennons...

[Tooting Carmen]

F.ex.: The Lennons...

And the Gallaghers...

[French Rolland]

Irish, like Armenians, Lebaneses, Greeks or to some degree Italians and Germans, prospered way more as diaspora on other nations colonies or new world countries than as a colonial power. But unlike the meds guys who held a culture of merchants and traveling, and establishing trading post, it wasn't much of their own will.