The lack of the Irish

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Radar

It used to be that half of Ireland was on the dole and the other half was working to pay for it.

Define "used to be"! The dole is a comparatively recent phenomenon. My Grandad's father moved to England to be where the work is. The choice then was move or starve, hence the mass exodus through the 20th century. The nuns at my school were Irish, and many's the tale I heard about why we were wicked wasteful children to say we didn't like school dinners when Irish children would jump at the chance of them (okay, the nuns were pretty old by then). Hardly living off the fat of the land.

And even when the dole was introduced, it was not a national trait that half the country just couldn't be arsed to work.

My best friend from the age of 13+ was Irish, and her Da moved the family to England to get a better life for them. I had two work colleagues with Irish mums - one who escaped the Troubles at the last second with a mob at her heels because she was pregnant to a Catholic (they reunited in England) and another who was shipped to Manchester by her family at the age of 14 to get a job in a factory.

I know a fair amount of Irish history. Being a typical mongrel, I'm too English to take the Fuck the English stance that you do, but I'm happy enough to stand up for the country some of my ancestors grew up in.

Cite. Please.