Irish people in Great Britain

File:Britain.Deisi.Laigin.jpg

After the end of Roman rule in Britain, significant Irish settlement of western Britain took place.

The Déisi recorded as having founded the Gwynedd (Anglesea) and Dyfed (Pembrokeshire) colonies, with contemporary Ogham inscriptions identifying the genealogies of the colonists, and later echoed in the 8th century, Old Irish work, The Expulsion of the Déisi.

Similarly, the traditional view is that Gaelic language and culture was brought to Scotland, probably in the 4th century, by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast.{{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}}{{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}} This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. However, recently some archeologists have argued against this view, saying that there is no archeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites.Campbell, Ewan. "[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/scotsirish.htm Were the Scots Irish?]" in Antiquity #75 (2001). Due to the growth of Dál Riata, in both size and influence, Scotland became almost wholly Gaelic-speaking. However, in the Lowlands – which had been the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, the Northumbrian language remained dominant, and formed the basis of the Scots language. While Scots gradually became more and more widespread, Gaelic remained the dominant language of the Highlands into the 19th century.

Before and during the Gregorian mission of 596 AD, Irish Christians such as Columba (521–97), Buriana, Diuma, Ceollach, Saint Machar, Saint Cathan, Saint Blane, Jaruman, Wyllow, Kessog, St Govan, Donnán of Eigg, Foillan and Saint Fursey began the conversion of the English and Pictish peoples. Modwenna and others were significant in the following century.

Some English monarchs, such as Oswiu of Northumbria (c. 612 – 15 February 670), Aldfrith (died 704 or 705) and Harold Godwinson (died 1066) were either raised in or sought refuge in Ireland, as did Welsh rulers such as Gruffudd ap Cynan. Alfred the Great may have spent some of his childhood in Ireland.

In the year 902 Norsemen who had been forced out of Ireland were given permission by the English to settle in Wirral, in the north west of England. An Irish historical record known as "The Three Fragments" refers to a distinct group of settlers living among these Vikings as "Irishmen". Further evidence of this Irish migration to Wirral comes from the name of the village of Irby in Wirral, which means "settlement of the Irish", and St Bridget's church, which is known to have been founded by "Vikings from Ireland".{{cite web|url=http://saintpatrickscrossliverpool.webs.com/|title=Saint Patrick's Cross Liverpool|website=Saint Patrick's Cross Liverpool|access-date=2012-07-02|archive-date=2022-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221119224230/https://saintpatrickscrossliverpool.webs.com/|url-status=dead}} The Irish of the 10th century may have settled as far afield as Northumbria and Lincolnshire, as place names such as Irby upon Humber, Ireleth and Irton mention the Irish as an ethnic group, while Goidelic personal names appear in some northern English place-names, including Duggleby, Fixby and Melmerby, and in a Viking-age Runic inscription from County Durham.{{cite book |last1=Edmonds |first1=Fiona |title=Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom: The Golden Age and the Viking Age |date=2019 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1783273362 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg5uEAAAQBAJ |access-date=4 September 2023}}

The island of Ireland was itself claimed as an Ecclesiastical fief, via the forged, mid 8th century, Donation of Constantine, with the feudal Lordship of Ireland later leased to Henry II of England and his heirs, by Pope Alexander III's, 1171 grant, resulting in the presence and settlement of Irish traders and seamen in English and Welsh ports, as well as the establishment of The Pale, on the island, the Irish settlers being subject to a poll tax, from 1440;{{Cite journal |last=Childs |first=Wendy R. |date=2000 |title=Irish Merchants and Seamen in Late Medieval England |journal=Irish Historical Studies |volume=32 |issue=125 |pages=22–43 |doi=10.1017/S0021121400014632 |jstor=30007015 |s2cid=163445297 |issn=0021-1214|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Bolton |first=J. L. |date=May 2000 |title=Irish migration to England in the late middle ages: the evidence of 1394 and 1440 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/irish-historical-studies/article/abs/irish-migration-to-england-in-the-late-middle-ages-the-evidence-of-1394-and-1440/627988CD8FCC36C4E6D48371E04E990B |journal=Irish Historical Studies |language=en |volume=32 |issue=125 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1017/S0021121400014620 |s2cid=163767143 |issn=0021-1214}} in 1542, Henry VIII, following his excommunication, would have the Irish Parliament create the Kingdom, with himself elected as King. Subsequently through offering English titles, and ecclesiastical lands, in a surrender and regrant process, would offer Irish clan chiefs, property and political power, in England, as well as Ireland. In 1555, Pope Paul IV, would confirm the existence of the Irish Kingdom, and that it was to be held in personal union with the Kingdom of England, via a Papal bull.{{Cite web |title=Copy of the Bull of Pope Paul IV. by which he makes over the Kingdom of Ireland to Philip and Mary, June 7, 1555. |url=http://sources.nli.ie/Record/MS_UR_055268 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=sources.nli.ie |language=English}} A personal Union that would later include the Kingdom of Scotland, and between 1707 and 1800, the politically united Kingdom of Great Britain. The Irish Parliament and Kingdom would be politically united with Great Britain as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, between 1801 and 1922, through the Acts of Union 1800. Today, Ireland is divided between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a constituent of the United Kingdom.

Irish people who made Britain their home in the later medieval era included Aoife MacMurrough, Princess of Leinster (1145–88), the poet Muireadhach Albanach (fl. 1213), the lawyer William of Drogheada (died 1245), Máel Muire Ó Lachtáin (died 1249), Malachias Hibernicus (fl. 1279–1300), Gilbert Ó Tigernaig (died 1323), Diarmait MacCairbre (executed 1490) and Germyn Lynch (fl. 1441–1483), all of whom made successful lives in the various kingdoms of Britain.

Historically, Irish immigrants to the United Kingdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were considered over-represented amongst those appearing in court. However, research suggests that policing strategy may have put immigrants at a disadvantage by targeting only the most public forms of crime, while locals were more likely able to engage in the types of crimes that could be conducted behind locked doors.{{Cite journal|title = How Criminal were the Irish? Bias in the Detection of London Currency Crime, 1797-1821|journal = The London Journal|volume = 43|pages = 36–52|date = 2017-02-09|doi = 10.1080/03058034.2016.1270876|first = Adam|last = Crymble|doi-access = free|hdl = 2299/19710|hdl-access = free}} An analysis of historical courtroom records suggests that despite higher rates of arrest, immigrants were not systematically disadvantaged by the British court system in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.King, Peter. Ethnicity, Prejudice, and Justice: The Treatment of the Irish at the Old Bailey, 1750–1825, Journal of British Studies, Volume 52, Issue 2, April 2013, pp. 390-414

Some notable people born in Ireland who settled in Great Britain between the 16th and 19th centuries:

• Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, died 1635
• Robert Boyle, FRS, died 1691
• Laetitia Pilkington, died 1750
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• George Monro (British Army officer), 1700–57
• Patrick Brontë, 1777–1861
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
• Thomas Moore, died 1852
• Bram Stoker, author of Dracula
• Oliver Goldsmith, author of The Deserted Village
• Edmund Burke, politician, reformer, writer
• Mary Burns
• Robert Tressell, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

The most significant exodus followed the worst of a series of potato crop failures in the 1840s – the Great Irish Famine. It is estimated that more than one million people died and almost the same again emigrated. A further wave of emigration to England also took place between the 1930s and 1960s by Irish escaping poor economic conditions following the establishment of the Irish Free State. This was furthered by the severe labour shortage in Britain during the mid-20th century, which depended largely on Irish immigrants to work in the areas of construction and domestic labour. The extent of the Irish contribution to Britain's construction industry in the 20th century may be gauged from Sir William MacAlpine's 1998 assertion that the contribution of the Irish to the success of his industry had been "immeasurable".{{fact|date=May 2024}} This statement by a member of the British upper class illustrates how Irish migrant labour was regularly employed to discipline and weaken organised English labour unions at the same time as disparaging the contribution of the latter to the development of their own nation. Of this process the German-born philosopher Karl Marx wrote in 1870:

"Ireland constantly sends her own surplus to the English labour market, and thus forces down wages and lowers the material and moral position of the English working class... This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organisation. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power. And the latter is quite aware of this."{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1870/letters/70_04_09.htm|title=Letters: Marx to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt 9 April 1870|website=www.marxists.org}}

Ireland's population fell from more than 8 million to just 6.5 million between 1841 and 1851. A century later it had dropped to 4.3 million. By the late 19th century, emigration was heaviest from Ireland's most rural southern and western counties. Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Tipperary and Limerick alone provided nearly half of Ireland's emigrants. Some of this movement was temporary, made up of seasonal harvest labourers working in Britain and returning home for winter and spring.

Some notable people born in Ireland who settled in Great Britain in the 19th century:

• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

By the mid-1930s, Great Britain was the choice of many who had to leave Ireland. Britain's wartime economy (1939–45) and post-war boom attracted many Irish people to expanding cities and towns such as London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Luton. Prior to the 2000s financial crisis, ongoing sectarian violence and its economic aftermath was another major factor for immigration.

According to the UK 2001 Census, white Irish-born residents make up 1.2% of those living in England and Wales.{{cite web |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/commentaries/ethnicity.asp|title=2011 Census - Office for National Statistics|website=Statistics.gov.uk|access-date=10 January 2018}} In 1997, the Irish Government in its White Paper on Foreign Policy claimed that there were around two million Irish citizens living in Britain. The 2001 Census also showed that Irish people are more likely to be employed in managerial or professional occupations than those classed as "White British".{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=463 |title=Employment Patterns |publisher=ONS |access-date=10 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501051546/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=463 |archive-date= 1 May 2008 }}

As a result of the Irish financial crisis, emigration from Ireland rose significantly.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/ireland-business-blog-with-lisa-ocarroll/2011/jan/20/ireland-emigration-australia|title=Irish emigration worse than 1980s|first=Lisa|last=O'Carroll|newspaper=The Guardian|date=20 January 2011|access-date=15 June 2011}} Data published in June 2011 showed that Irish emigration to Britain had risen by 25 per cent to 13,920 in 2010.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/0614/1224298865280.html|title=Emigration to Britain up 25% to almost 14,000, data reveals|first=Jamie|last=Smyth|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=14 June 2011|access-date=15 June 2011}}

Some notable people born in Ireland who settled in Great Britain between the 20th and 21st centuries include:

BBC broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan moved to Buckinghamshire, England in 1969, acquiring British citizenship and a knighthood in 2005, and remained resident in the UK until his death in 2016.{{cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2016-01-31/tributes-to-broadcaster-who-made-his-home-in-buckinghamshire/|title=Tributes to broadcaster who made his home in Buckinghamshire|work=ITV News|date=31 January 2016}} Comedians Ed Byrne and Dara Ó Briain have relocated to Britain from Ireland, and regularly feature on British television.{{Cite news|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/ed-byrne-my-wife-claire-and-i-laugh-all-the-time-she-is-the-funny-one-34710126.html|title=Ed Byrne: 'My wife Claire and I laugh all the time - she is the funny one'|date=13 May 2016|work=Belfast Telegraph}}{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/14/dara-o-briain-q-and-a-interview|title=Q&A: Dara Ó Briain|author=Rosanna Greenstreet|date=2015-11-14|work=The Guardian}}

Since the 1970s some UK organisations, sections of media, and government departments{{Who|date=December 2021}} have defined Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) in anti-racist efforts and general demography. There are several notable Irish migrants to Great Britain who are people of colour, or who might otherwise be considered part of BAME communities. This includes emigrants from Ireland from the black Irish community, as well as Asian Irish people.

Irish musician and singer Phil Lynott settled in Surrey, England after the commercial success of his Dublin-formed band Thin Lizzy.{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/4/newsid_4041000/4041511.stm|title=1986: Thin Lizzy star dies|date=4 January 1986|publisher=BBC}} Lynott, who died in 1986, was mixed raced and had British Guianan ancestry.{{Cite news |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/phil-lynott-mum-death-philomena-16419408|title=Philomena Lynott, mother of Thin Lizzy singer Phil Lynott, and former Manchester hotel owner dies|author=Chris Slater|date=12 June 2019|work=Manchester Evening News|quote=His father was an immigrant from British Guiana and her quest to find somewhere a single mother with a mixed race child would be accepted led her to Moss Side in the 1960s.}} Irish actor Christopher Simpson was moved to London, England as child in 1981. Simpson is of Irish and Rwandan descent.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/all-the-worlds-a-stage-for-young-actor-at-the-abbey-26397457.html|title=All the world's a stage for young actor at the Abbey |work=Irish Independent|date=2 February 2006}}

Irish footballer Darren Randolph, who has spoken of his experiences growing up black in Ireland, moved to Britain permanently after joining London team Charlton Athletic F.C. in 2003, and has since remained in English football.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/i-was-aware-from-a-young-age-i-was-different-just-from-my-skin-tone-alone-39291389.html/|title=I was aware from a young age I was different just from my skin tone alone|author=Fiona Audley |work=Irish Independent|date=16 June 2020}} Model and actress Layla Flaherty relocated to Liverpool, England in 2006. Flaherty, who has Irish and African American heritage, has appeared in UK-based E4 productions, such as Desperate Scousewives.{{Cite news |url=https://connachttribune.ie/man-eater-layla-desperate-for-stardom/ |title=Man eater Layla 'desperate' for stardom |last=Fhlatharta |first=Bernie Ni |date=21 May 2013 |work=Connacht Tribune |quote=The daughter of a Connemara mother and father of African/American descent, Layla has been modelling since she was 14 and was a regular face at the Catwalk agency. She moved to Liverpool in 2005 to join two friends who were studying in the city. |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=6 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106191139/https://connachttribune.ie/man-eater-layla-desperate-for-stardom/ |url-status=dead }} Also relocating to England in 2006, Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga has appeared in films, as well as RTÉ and BBC series. In 2018, Negga, who has been Academy Award-nominated, was featured in the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 list, which claims to chart the careers of London's most influential people.{{Cite news |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/the1000/the-progress-1000-londons-most-influential-people-2018-performance-screen-a3953721.html|title=The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2018 - Performance: Screen |date=10 October 2018|work=Evening Standard|quote=Ruth Negga: Actor - Academy Award-nominated, she stars in Agents of SHIELD and Preacher, and took on the role of Hamlet earlier this year.}} Irish presenter Liz Bonnin has also relocated to London. Bonnin, who has Indian, Portuguese, and French-Martiniquan heritage moved to Britain after establishing a science-based broadcasting career with the BBC since 2009.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/saving-planet-earth-liz-bonnin-mission-reconnect-us-nature-176377/|title=Saving Planet Earth: Why Liz Bonnin is on a mission to reconnect us all with nature|author=Fiona Audley |work=The Irish Post|date=30 December 2019}}

In 2020, Irish women's football player Rianna Jarrett relocated to Brighton, England. Jarrett, whose father is Jamaican,{{cite news |last1=Byrne |first1=Pádraig |title=Soccer star Rianna's back on top following her injury woes |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/news/soccer-star-riannas-back-on-top-following-her-injury-woes-37805511.html |work=Irish Independent |date=16 February 2019|quote=From Croke Avenue in Wexford town, Rianna's footballing drive very much comes from her family. The daughter of Doreen from Bernadette Place, with Jamaican blood on her father David's side, she grew up kicking ball with her twin brother Jordan and later younger brother Connolly.}} made the move to Britain after joining Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C.{{Cite news |url=https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0123/1110466-rianna-jarrett-signs-deal-at-brighton/|title=The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2018 - Performance: Screen |date=10 October 2018|publisher=RTÉ|quote=Ruth Negga: Actor - Academy Award-nominated, she stars in Agents of SHIELD and Preacher, and took on the role of Hamlet earlier this year.}}

Notable Irish footballers, who were born or raised in Ireland, began moving as young adults to teams based in Great Britain since the post-World War II period.{{Cite book|title=Sport and Nationalism in Ireland: Gaelic Games, Soccer and Irish Identity Since 1884|author=Michael Cronin|author-link=Michael Cronin (academic)|date=1999|page=126|isbn=978-1851824564|publisher=Four Courts Press|quote=Irish players have always sought their fortunes in England, Scotland and further afield as neither the FAI or the IFA leagues are big enough nor attract enough finance to provide the rewards for quality players.}} As the sport became more commercially successful, wealthy English clubs in particular pursued Irish talent, which was often seen as detrimental to the game's development in Ireland.{{Cite book|title=Historical Social Research|date=2006|edition=Issue 115|page=23|publisher=GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences|quote=One newspaper bemoaned the fact that the Irish game was being “crippled by the advent of wealthy English clubs bent on securing Irish players at any price”.}}

Moving from Northern Ireland between 1949 and 1963, players such as Danny Blanchflower, Jimmy McIlroy, Billy Bingham, Terry Neill, George Best, Pat Jennings and later, migrating between 1971 and 1981;{{Cite book|title=The Football Book: The Teams, The Rules, The Leagues, The Tactics|date=2018|page=169|isbn=978-0241332856|publisher=DK|quote=The constant flow of talented young players from Northern Ireland to England and Scotland has also affected the quality of the domestic teams in Northern Ireland.}} Sammy McIlroy, Mal Donaghy, Norman Whiteside, David McCreery, Nigel Worthington, Jimmy Nicholl and Martin O'Neill won titles as players, or managers, in England and Scotland's top competitions.{{Cite book|title=Sport and English National Identity in a 'Disunited Kingdom': A 'disunited kingdom' (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society)|editor1=Tom Gibbons|editor2=Dominic Malcolm|date=2017|page=126|isbn=978-1138369085|publisher=Routledge|quote=The names of Northern Irish players who have made a reputation for themselves playing for English teams roll off the tonue: Martin O'Neill, Sammy McOlroy, Billy Bingham, Pat Jennings, Gerry Armstrong, Norman Whitesided, Harry Gregg, Danny Blanchflower, Jimmy McIlroy and many others}}

Moving to Britain from the Republic of Ireland during the 1950s and 60s, Tony Dunne, Noel Cantwell, Johnny Giles, and later, in the 1970s and 80s, Liam Brady, Packie Bonner, Ronnie Whelan, Frank Stapleton, David O'Leary and Steve Staunton all won major honours in the Scottish or English top-flights.{{Cite book|title=Giving the Game Away: Football, Politics, and Culture on Five Continents|author=Stephen Wagg|date=1995|page=20|isbn=978-0718518875|publisher=Leicester University Press|quote=Notably with Manchester United and Arsenal. These two clubs, as I observed earlier, have strong Irish links and the latter draws on the London Irish community, among other communities, for its support. The best Southern Irish players of the 1960s, Shay Brennan, Tony Dunne, Noel Cantwell and John Giles, played for Manchester United (although Giles went on to play his best football with Leeds)}}

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, players also from the Republic, such as John O'Shea, Stephen Carr, Steve Finnan, Denis Irwin, Niall Quinn, Roy Keane, Shay Given, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, moved to enjoy decades-long careers in English and Scottish football, each winning at least one top-flight competition. In the same era, players who moved from Northern Ireland to Britain, winning competitions in the Scottish and English top-tiers, included Steven Davis, David Healy, Jonny Evans, Keith Gillespie, Roy Carroll, Gerry Taggart, Kyle Lafferty and Neil Lennon.

Prior to the 19th century, much of Irish migration of the modern period had been large-scale movement of temporary labourers to Britain.{{Cite book|title=Irish Studies|chapter=Migration between Ireland and Britain since Independence|volume=1|page=107|author=P. J. Drudy|date=1981|isbn=978-0521233361|publisher=Cambridge University Press|quote=For centuries, large-scale temporary movement of Irish migratory workers had taken place. By the end of the eighteenth century migration to Britain on a permanent basis had also been established on a substantial scale. Thus, by 1841 the British Census of Population recorded a total of 419,000 Irish-born living in Britain; within two further decades this figure had almost doubled, reflecting the flight from appalling poverty and hunger in Ireland during and after the Great Famine of 1845-49.}} These seasonal workers or labourers, known as Spalpeens and Tatie Hookers, were often based on extended family ties, and would involve up to half a year working on farms or in agricultural industry. Up until as late as the 1970s, earnings from this type of employment helped sustain communities in Western Ireland.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society|chapter=Britain's Irish|volume=1|page=206|author=Richard T. Schaefer|date=2008|isbn= 978-1412926942|publisher=SAGE Publications|quote=A major issue in the study of Irish ethnicity and migration is examining why there is no multigenerational Irish British community, given the scale of Irish migration to Great Britain. Why, for many millions of Britons of Irish ancestry, is this not an aspect of their contemporary social identities? ... The twin peaks of Irish migration to Great Britain are those who arrived after the Famine and those who arrived after World War II ... during the 19th century in particular, large numbers of Irish migrated annually for seasonal work ... up to 6 months working on farms ... known as "Spalpeens" and "Tatie Hookers", were an important part of western Ireland's economy. Their seasonal earnings sustained communities in Ireland's northwest areas up until the 1970s.}}

The Great Famine in 1845 triggered a mass exodus from Ireland, with significant numbers of Irish migrants fleeing to Britain to escape severe poverty and starvation.

In 2021, there were 505,212{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/create/filter-outputs/e2b54aa5-a98d-4c92-ae9a-c4165420cbba#get-data|title=2021 England/Wales Census country of birth by age|access-date=27 November 2024}} people in England (0.9 per cent of the population), who had been born in Ireland, down from 674,786 in 2001. Of these, 314,674 were born in the Republic of Ireland, and 190,538 born in Northern Ireland. Despite the drop since 2001, this is still the greatest concentration of Irish-born—as distinct from persons of Irish ancestry—abroad anywhere in the world and was equivalent to 7.2% of the population of the island of Ireland (7.1 million) in 2021, or 6.1% of the Republic of Ireland population and 10% of the Northern Irish population.

During the Great Famine of the 19th century, Barrow-in-Furness was seen as a desirable location that many Irish (along with Scottish and Cornish) fled to. This was in part due to ease of access to reach the town's port from Ireland (particularly from Ulster), and secondly because it was a booming town as a result of the Industrial Revolution with guaranteed work, particularly in the emerging steelworks and shipbuilding industries in the town. At its peak, it was estimated that somewhere between 7-11% of Barrow's population were Irish or Scottish.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cultureconflictm00macr_0|url-access=registration|title=Culture, Conflict, and Migration: The Irish in Victorian Cumbria|first=Donald M.|last=MacRaild|date=10 January 1998|publisher=Liverpool University Press|access-date=10 January 2018|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780853236528}} As a result of this, to this day a huge number of Barrow's population are of Irish descent.

Birmingham has a large Irish community, dating back to the Industrial Revolution, it is estimated that Birmingham has the largest Irish population per capita in Britain. Digbeth is the traditional Irish area in Birmingham. During the 1950s Sparkhill, Sparkbrook, Aston, and Nechells were the main Irish areas. Today many Irish people live in areas such as Hall Green and Erdington. Birmingham has the UK's largest St Patricks Day's Parade (and the world's third biggest) and Britain's only Irish Quarter, with many traditional Irish pubs and the Birmingham Irish centre. Irish people have always moved to Birmingham for work especially for the construction, factory and industrial work which the city had to offer. Many Irish people moved to Birmingham to build canals, roads and railways in the city's industrial past. St Chad's Cathedral is one of only two of the minor Basilicas in the UK. It is very important as the first Catholic church built in Britain after the English Reformation, and was designed by the architect Augustus Pugin.

Community relations for the Irish in Birmingham were complicated by the pub bombings of November 1974. At inquests into the deaths of the 21 victims, "Witness O" named the men responsible as Seamus McLoughlin, Mick Murray, Michael Hayes and James Gavin. He said he had been given permission to reveal the names by the current head of the IRA in Dublin. There were very limited physical attacks on Irish people in the aftermath of the bombings.{{cite news |author= |title=Birmingham pub bombings: 'My Irish father was attacked by friends' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-46242612/birmingham-pub-bombings-my-irish-father-was-attacked-by-friends |work=BBC |location=Birmingham & Black Country |date=17 November 2018 |access-date=30 November 2018 }} In November 2018, Birmingham's Irish Association revealed a memorial to those killed outside Birmingham New Street Station.{{cite news |author= |title=Birmingham pub bombings memorial offers 'peace and hope' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-46289920 |work=BBC |location=Birmingham & Black Country |date=21 November 2018 |access-date=30 November 2018 }}

A large number settled here in the 1950s as work was scarce at home, especially in the South. Many found work in the mills and factories and encouraged other family members to come over as there were jobs waiting for them.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Bradford largely expanded into the city it is today during the 19th century, due to jobs in the newly built textile mills attracting many immigrants in dire need of work. The population increase, in fact, saw Bradford go from a small town of 6,000 in 1801, to 103,000 by 1851 according to records taken.{{cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/bradford.html|title=A History of Bradford|website=Localhistories.org|access-date=10 January 2018}} Many of these newly arriving people were Irish escaping the Great Famine, and could easily take advantage of all the work Bradford had on offer due to the ease to reach there from Ireland. J. B. Hammond once commented on this, saying of the distance from Ireland to Yorkshire, "It was easier to reach Yorkshire from Ireland than from Norfolk or Dorset... Labourers who were sent to Lancashire were taken to London, put on a boat of Pickfords...carried to Manchester in four or five days at a cost of fourteen shillings. But an Irishman could cross to Liverpool in fourteen hours for two shillings and sixpence". In 1851, records showed that Bradford had the highest proportion of Irish-born people in Yorkshire at the time.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/05/12/bradford_irish_katie_feature.shtml|title=BBC - Bradford and West Yorkshire - Around West Yorkshire - Against the odds?|website=BBC |access-date=10 January 2018}} In Donald M. MacRaid's book Irish Migration in Modern Britain, he comments on research showing that a large number of Bradford's Irish originally came from County Mayo, County Sligo, County Dublin, and County Laois, with records also suggesting that there was a common migration trail at the time from County Roscommon to Bradford.{{cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlmayo2/irish_bradford_yorkshire.html|title=RootsWeb.com Home Page|website=Rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=10 January 2018}} Many of the Irish from Mayo and Sligo originated from a rural background, and at first struggled to adapt to urban life in Bradford. To this day, many residents of Bradford and the surrounding area are of Irish descent.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

There was an Irish Diaspora Research Unit at the University of Bradford in the early 21st Century under Dr. Patrick O'Sullivan, but the Unit did not continue after he moved to New York University.{{cite web|url=http://arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk/detail/94844/index.html|title=(ARCH) Irish diaspora studies|website=arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk}}

In the 1950s many thousands of Irish migrated to Braintree in Essex to meet the demands of the labour shortage primarily in the Courtauld's textile mills, both in Braintree and nearby Halstead. They also helped meet the need for labour both in Critall's main Braintree factory.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Coventry had a large influx of Irish from around the middle of the 20th century, when the city's motor industry was booming. To this day, Coventry remains one of the cities in the UK with a higher Irish population, and retains strong Irish links. The city council put the town's Irish population at 2.3% in 2009, higher than the UK national average of 1%, and additionally the Coventry Irish Society estimated that around 10% of the city's population are of Irish descent.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-26977052|title=Coventry's lure to Ireland president|first=David|last=Lumb|date=11 April 2014|website=Bbc.co.uk}}

During the 19th century, many of the towns in County Durham (the county Gateshead historically belongs to), which before that point had mostly been a rural county, began to take advantage of emerging new technology and discovered resources in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. This not only changed the face of the county, urbanizing much of it, but also led to expansion on a massive scale. People from all over the United Kingdom, ranging from the south of England to Ireland, moved to the area to take advantage of the large amount of work that these industries brought in roles such as coal mining and shipbuilding. As in many other instances around this time, it was the Great Famine which caused many from Ireland in particular to be drawn to jobs in the County Durham area, and make the move. A further advantage was that the county was quite straightforward to reach from Ireland, due to easy access by rail to there from the western port of Whitehaven, itself easily accessible by ferry from Ireland itself (in particular, Ulster). Gateshead in particular was one of the towns that changed most significantly due to the events of Industrial Revolution, but moreover took in one of the largest numbers of Irish of all the County Durham towns. In 1871, the town was recorded as having the densest number of Irish-born in County Durham, at 6.7%, and a year later it was recorded that 1 in 4 people in the town were Irish. The town also went through a huge population increase, rising by approximately 100,000 people over the course of the 19th century which the Irish undeniably contributed to. To this day, many people in the town are of Irish descent.{{cite web|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1907/1/1907.pdf?EThOS%20(BL)|format=PDF|title=The Irish in County Durham and Newcastle c.1840-1880|author=Cooter, Roger|website=Etheses.dur.ac.uk|access-date=10 January 2018}}

Similarly to Bradford, Halifax was a desirable location for Irish escaping the Great Famine due to ease of access to reach, and the fact that its growth into an industrial boomtown over the 19th century coincided with the time of the famine. Many of the jobs on offer in Halifax were in newly opened cotton spinning mills, opened as a result of taking advantage of technological innovation in the then emerging textile industry. There were said to be as many as 24 mills in the town by 1850. The Irish contributed to its population growth from around 9,000 in 1800, to 25,000 by the middle of the century.{{cite web|url=http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/timeline/1810-1850/1810-1850-1.html|title=Calderdale history timeline: 1810 - 1850AD: From weaver to web|publisher=Calderdale Libraries, Northgate, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England|website=Calderdale.gov.uk|access-date=10 January 2018}} In 1872, records showed that the Irish numbered "from a sixth to an eighth of the population" in Halifax, with it also being noted that "the political strength of the Irish people in Halifax is considerable".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vItRDQAAQBAJ&q=Halifax&pg=PA79|title=A Survey of the Irish in England (1872)|first=Alan|last=O'Day|date=1 July 1993|page=79|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780826422941}} Irish heritage still lives on in Halifax through the likes of the town's football team, Halifax Irish F.C.{{cite web|url=http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/hxirishclub|title=Halifax Irish Football Club|website=Pitchero.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}

As Heywood developed into a mill town during the Industrial Revolution, this brought a large number of new residents to the town, including many Irish escaping the Great Famine. Additionally, many Irish migrants took up jobs in the area working as navvies on the local railway, a fact that still lives on in the town's legacy as some say that these navvies may have been the influence behind Heywood's nickname, Monkey Town.{{cite web|url=http://www.visitrochdale.com/about-the-area/heywood|title=Heywood - Visit Rochdale|website=Visitrochdale.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}

Also situated in County Durham, the story behind why many Irish moved to Jarrow is similar to that of Gateshead. Shipbuilding, in particular, drew many of them to Jarrow. The town to this day is still sometimes nicknamed Little Ireland, and has a large Catholic community, as a result of the sheer number of Irish who moved there.{{cite web|url=http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/the-irish-community-s-impact-on-south-tyneside-1-1288157|title=The Irish community's impact on South Tyneside|website=Shieldsgazette.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}

During the Industrial Revolution, Keighley flourished in the textile and weaving industries, which encouraged many Irish fleeing the Great Famine and looking for work to move there. This resulted in a significant Irish community, and to this day the town still has a large number of inhabitants of Irish descent. The Irish redefined aspects of Keighley as a town significantly. It was once commented that the (then fairly new) Irish community in Keighley "contributed more to the Home-Rule than [in] either of the populous towns of Glasgow or Liverpool".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jygdBQAAQBAJ&q=Irish+in+Keighley&pg=PA132|title=The Irish Diaspora in Britain, 1750-1939|first=Donald M.|last=MacRaild|date=24 November 2010|page=132|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|via=Google Books|isbn=9781137268037}}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The influence of the Irish also led to there being a large Catholic community in Keighley, which has lived on in both Catholic churches and schools that exist in the town today.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

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There is an Irish community in Leeds, although it is generally smaller than in other large cities in Britain. The Leeds Irish Centre is on York Road on the east side of the city.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The nearby area of East End Park is the area most associated with Leeds's Irish community. In the years after the Famine, 3.3% of Leeds's population was Irish-born.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} There was a particular concentration of migrants from the Irish county of Mayo.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} A book on the subject of migration from Ireland to Leeds in the 20th century was published in 2010: Taking The Boat: The Irish in Leeds, 1931-81.{{cite web |url=http://www.theirishstory.com/2010/06/04/book-review-taking-the-boat-the-irish-in-leeds-1931-81-brendan-mcgowan/#.WnW9QCXFKM8|title=Book Review ~ Taking The Boat: The Irish in Leeds, 1931-81 ~ Brendan McGowan |last=Eoin |first=Purcell |date=2010 |website=The Irish Story |access-date=3 February 2018 }}

Liverpool is widely known for having the strongest Irish heritage of any UK city - perhaps alongside Glasgow.{{cite web|url=http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1372 |title=Culture and Ethnicity Differences in Liverpool – European Communities |publisher=Chambré Hardman Trust |access-date=6 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110073826/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1372 |archive-date=10 January 2009 }} This originates from the city's port being close to Ireland, which made it easy to reach for all those escaping the Great Famine between 1845 and 1849. More than 20% of Liverpool's population was Irish by 1851.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/emigrants/access/liverpool.asp?%5Blookup%5D=irish|title=Leaving from Liverpool|publisher=National Museums Liverpool|access-date=6 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007071211/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/emigrants/access/liverpool.asp?%5Blookup%5D=irish|archive-date=7 October 2008|url-status=dead}} Up to 2 million Irish people travelled to Liverpool within 10 years during this time, though many subsequently departed for the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/07/20/coast05walks_stage5.shtml|title=Coast Walk: Stage 5 – Steam Packet Company|publisher=BBC|access-date=6 August 2008}}

It is also twinned with Dublin.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpools-twin-cities-3354298|title=Liverpool's twin cities|website=Liverpoolecho.co.uk|date=4 January 2012|access-date=10 July 2015}} All four of Liverpool's most famous natives, the Beatles, had some Irish ancestry: John Lennon's great-grandparents on his father's side were Irish immigrants from County Down, Paul McCartney had an Irish grandfather and great-grandfather, Ringo Starr had an Irish great-grandmother, and George Harrison had Irish blood through his mother.

Liverpool's Irish heritage is further highlighted by it being the only English city to have a significant Orange Order membership, as well as having a large Irish Catholic majority and being the most Catholic city in the UK. It remains the only UK city to elect—and continuously re-elect—an Irish nationalist politician (T. P. O'Connor) and hosts one of the UK's largest St Patrick's Day parades. The city has been at odds with right-wing politicians since the 1970s, with a city council that was previously dominated by the right-wing Conservative Party becoming more left-wing,{{Cite journal|title=The strange death of Tory Liverpool: Conservative electoral decline in Liverpool, 1945–1996|first=David|last=Jeffery|date=August 1, 2017|journal=British Politics|volume=12|issue=3|pages=386–407|doi=10.1057/s41293-016-0032-6|doi-access=free}} a relationship that was exacerbated further during the days of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose Conservative government planned to starve the area of resources.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-leaving-of-liverpool/|title=The Leaving of Liverpool: managed decline and the enduring legacy of Thatcherism's urban policy|first=ANTHONY |last=HUGHES|date=January 17, 2019}} It has also been regarded as a notably European city, and often identifies more with Ireland and the European Union than the UK; this intensified in the 1980s during the UK media's mishandling of the Hillsborough disaster, which saw lies being spread about dead Liverpudlians by tabloids such as The Sun,{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zpdc7hv|title=Hillsborough Disaster: From tragedy to truth |publisher=BBC News|access-date=10 May 2016}} and it is not uncommon to hear a Liverpudlian refer to themselves as "Scouse, not English".{{Cite web|url=https://www.andcouldheplay.com/scouse-not-english-whats-that-all-about/|title=Scouse Not English: What's That All About? | And Could He Play|website=www.andcouldheplay.com}} Pro-EU sentiment increased again in 2008, when the EU designated Liverpool as a "Capital of Culture" and helped it to regenerate by pouring over €1 billion into the economy while the Conservative UK government continued to cut its funding.{{Cite web|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/once-again-liverpool-stands-alone-17413354|title=Once again Liverpool stands alone on a dark night for the country|first=Liam|last=Thorp|date=December 13, 2019|website=Liverpool Echo}} The Irish have also come to be a staple of Liverpool's surrounding areas; places such as Birkenhead, Bootle, Crosby, Halewood, Huyton, Kirkby, Litherland, Runcorn, St Helens and Wallasey have many ethnically Irish residents and have also inherited the Liverpool accent.

Between Liverpool FC and Everton FC, the city's two biggest football teams, Everton FC is often cited as the more Irish of the two; some Liverpool FC fans have rejected this view.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/question-of-religion-as-basis-for-support-still-contentious-1.1655070|title=Question of religion as basis for support still contentious|first=Emmet|last=Malone|newspaper=The Irish Times}}

File:Forgotten Irish of London memorial.jpg.]]

The term "London Irish" relates to people born in London of Irish descent. London has Great Britain's biggest Irish population and there was a particularly big community in the (affectionately known) "County Kilburn" area of northwest London. With urban gentrification and higher housing costs, many of London's working-class Irish-Catholic community have moved further out from Kilburn to Cricklewood.

Another large Irish community was in the Archway area, where many Irish navvies came to work in building railways and roads from the 1830s onwards.{{cite news |last=Finch |first=Emily |date=8 December 2017 |title=Navigator Square – built on the pluck of the Irish |url=http://camdennewjournal.com/article/navigator-square-built-on-the-pluck-of-the-irish|work=Camden New Journal |location=London |access-date=17 March 2018 }} The community grew larger throughout the Famine years and then again after the Second World War when the Whittington Hospital in Archway recruited nurses from Ireland. This area became associated with Irish political activism with the election of Michael O'Halloran as MP for Islington North in 1969. O'Halloran referred to his supporters as "the Irish mafia".{{cite news |last=Dalyell |first=Tom |date=2 December 1999 |title=Obituary: Michael O'Halloran |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-michael-ohalloran-1125332.html |work=The Independent |location=London |access-date=15 April 2017}} In 2017, a new public space outside Archway underground station was named Navigator Square after the Irish navvies.{{cite news |last=Morris |first=James |date=15 December 2017 |title='Everyone wants us to move': Archway Market plans Navigator Square relocation |url=http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/everyone-wants-us-to-move-archway-market-plans-navigator-square-relocation-1-5321074 |work=Islington Gazette |location=London |access-date=17 March 2018 |archive-date=17 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317165114/http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/everyone-wants-us-to-move-archway-market-plans-navigator-square-relocation-1-5321074 |url-status=dead }}

The Camden Town area of London, as well as Shepherd's Bush, were also known for their large Irish communities. The Irish Cultural Centre is located in Hammersmith, West London. Greenford in the London Borough of Ealing is home to a large Irish community and contains Tir Chonaill Park, home to the Tír Chonaill Gaels Gaelic Football club.

Manchester has strong and long established Irish connections. The earliest large influx of migrants arrived sometime around 1798 according to Peter Ewart, a Manchester cotton manufacturer.{{Cite web|url=http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/?p=2976|title=President Higgins on Manchester's Irish Connection|date=May 15, 2013}} It has been estimated that around 35% of Manchester's current population has Irish ancestry, although no reliable data exists to evidence this. In November 2012 whilst addressing an audience at the University of Manchester, Michael D. Higgins suggested "the Irish connection in Manchester is no less evident than in Liverpool. And where Liverpool was a gateway for so many Irish people, Manchester tended to be for many the end of the journey, a home".

When Manchester's population grew in the early 1800s due to it becoming the World's first industrial city the Irish born in Manchester were said to represent over 15% of the population. The Irish were said to have lived in terrible conditions and were described by Friedrich Engels in his 1845 book The Condition of the Working Class in England. Areas concentrated with high levels of Irish were known as Little Ireland around Oxford Road and later Ancoats and Hulme. Manchester was a breeding ground for Irish Republicanism, supporters known as Fenians, and when three Irish men were hanged accused of murder they became figureheads for Irish nationalism in Britain, Ireland and America and were known as the Manchester Martyrs. The reports of these terrible conditions sparked pioneering social changes in Manchester in the 1840s with the city often at the forefront of social reform in Britain.{{Cite web|url=https://ifthosewallscouldtalk.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/long-lost-histories-little-ireland-manchester/|title=Long Lost Histories: 'Little Ireland', Manchester|date=September 12, 2016}}

Manchester was targeted by the IRA in the 1996 Manchester bombing in what was described as the biggest bomb on British soil since World War II. Manchester was targeted in part because security in London was so rigid due to parades in London for the Queen's Trooping of the Colour. However, it was telling that the terrorists warned of the exact location beforehand to save human lives in a city with a rich history of Irish migration, balancing a fine line of shocking Britain and alienating supporters back home.{{Cite web|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/why-did-ira-bomb-manchester-11425439|title=Why did the IRA bomb Manchester?|first=Jennifer|last=Williams|date=June 15, 2016|website=Manchester Evening News}} On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, and stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-20-mn-16714-story.html|title=IRA Admits Manchester Bombing|date=June 20, 1996|website=Los Angeles Times}} This stood in sharp contrast to their earlier 1993 bombing of nearby Warrington which killed two English children aged 3 and 12, which the IRA blamed on "the British authorities" for not being able to respond to its imprecise warning that did not even specify Warrington as the target.

File:Republic of Ireland visitors to Manchester peruse Irish products for sale at the shop in the Irish World Heritage Centre, Cheetham Hill.jpg for sale at the Irish World Heritage Centre, Cheetham Hill.]]

The city's residents of Irish heritage have been influential in the music industry. All four members of the Smiths had Irish roots, as do the Gallagher brothers of the band Oasis. Gary Mounfield (Mani), bass player of the Stone Roses had an Irish mother.{{cite web |url=http://insurance.essentialtravel.co.uk/tg-europe/uk/manchester-history.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929040552/http://insurance.essentialtravel.co.uk/tg-europe/uk/manchester-history.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-09-29 |title=Essential Travel - Travel Insurance, Airport Parking and Airport Hotels |publisher=Insurance.essentialtravel.co.uk |date=2013-10-28 |access-date=2014-05-19 }} Manchester holds an annual Irish Festival each March, including one of the UK's largest St Patrick's Day parades. Cheetham is home to the Irish World Heritage Centre.{{cite web |title=Irish World Heritage Centre |url=https://www.iwhc.com/ |website=Irish World Heritage Centre}}

Due to its connections with the local Irish Catholic population, Manchester United was almost named Manchester Celtic in 1902{{cite news|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/comment-why-rangers-hate-the-reds-1154705|title=Comment: Why Rangers 'hate' the Reds|first=Stuart|last=Brennan|date=12 August 2004|newspaper=Manchester Evening News}} and is the most supported football club in Ireland.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/football-fan-survey-man-united-still-top-league-among-irish-fans-1.4185728|title=Football fan survey: Man United still top league among Irish fans|first=Emmet|last=Malone|newspaper=The Irish Times}}

Middlesbrough during the latter half of the 19th century had the second highest percentage of Irish born migrants in England after Liverpool.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aZvAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|title=Urban North-Eastern English: Tyneside to Teesside|first1=Joan|last1=Beal|first2=Lourdes Burbano|last2=Elizondo|first3=Carmen|last3=Llamas|date=7 March 2012|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|access-date=10 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780748664474}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ji3lYsG6AwC&pg=PA66|title=The Rise of a Victorian Ironopolis: Middlesbrough and Regional Industrialization|first=Minoru|last=Yasumoto|date=10 January 2018|publisher=Boydell Press|page=66|access-date=10 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781843836339}} In terms of the overall population, 15.6% of Middlesbrough's inhabitants were Irish born in 1861 and 1 in 5 adults (9.2%{{Contradictory inline|date=August 2024}}) were Irish born in the 1871 census.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ji3lYsG6AwC&pg=PA65|title=The Rise of a Victorian Ironopolis: Middlesbrough and Regional Industrialization|first=Minoru|last=Yasumoto|date=10 January 2018|page=65|publisher=Boydell Press|access-date=10 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781843836339}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6PwHF6FUYUC&pg=PA67|title=The Irish in Britain, 1815-1939|first1=Roger|last1=Swift|first2=Sheridan|last2=Gilley|date=10 January 1989|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=67|access-date=10 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780389208884}} During the late 19th century, Middlesbrough became a world leader in the Steel and Iron industry and with the rapid growth of the town, the expanse of newly opened blast furnaces attracted many workers and their families to the Middlesbrough area. Unlike many other towns in England at the time, Middlesbrough showed no signs of sectarianism or segregation within the various communities that lived alongside each other, there were no "Irish quarters"[http://www.slideshare.net/mrudigawa/middlesbrough Middlesbrough - A study into Irish immigration and influence on the Middlesbrough dialect], Barbara Fennell, Mark J. Jones & Carmen Llamas, Slideshare.net and the many Irish that settled in Middlesbrough integrated into their adopted home. This was most likely as a result of the town's infancy, it was essentially a migrant town. Although the number of Irish born currently residing in Middlesbrough may not be as substantial as it once was, Middlesbrough retains a strong Irish connection and heritage through the ancestry of many residents.

Sunderland was another place in County Durham that many Irish escaping the famine saw as desirable. Once dubbed "the largest shipbuilding town in the world",{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nationonfilm/topics/ship-building/background.shtml|title=BBC - Nation on Film - Shipbuilding - Background|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=10 January 2018}} the city largely expanded into what it is today as a result of the number of people this work, and the demand for manual labour in other local jobs such as coal mining and chemical works, encouraged to move there. The Irish were one of the most significant groups who took advantage of the demand for labour and moved there, and consequently many people in Sunderland today have Irish heritage.

Peter O'Toole's father was a labourer in Sunderland for many years, which is why Peter O'Toole supported Sunderland A.F.C.{{cite web |url=https://salutsunderland.com/2010/09/peter-otoole-and-a-lost-sunderland-passion/ |title=Peter O'Toole and a lost Sunderland passion | Salut! Sunderland |access-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326060216/http://salutsunderland.com/2010/09/peter-otoole-and-a-lost-sunderland-passion/ |archive-date=26 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}

The city also celebrates St. Patrick's Day.{{cite web|url=http://www.sunderlandecho.com/lifestyle/sunderland-s-irish-links-celebrated-on-st-patrick-s-day-1-4356261|title=Sunderland's Irish links celebrated on St Patrick's Day|website=Sunderlandecho.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}

Due to its port and close proximity to Ireland, similarly to Liverpool, Whitehaven was an easy way of accessing England for the Irish, especially when escaping the Great Famine of the 19th century. Thousands passed through the town to move on to work for themselves elsewhere in England, such as the aforementioned County Durham, however many also stayed in the area and many people in the town still have Irish heritage today.

Widnes became a boom town during the Industrial Revolution, having a successful chemical industry brought on by a factory opened in the town in 1847, which led to many Irish workers (among others from Wales, Poland and Lithuania) moving there for work.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolcityregion.uk/the-history-of-halton.html|title=The History of Halton - Liverpool City Region - Liverpool - Wirral - Sefton - St.Helens - Knowsley - Halton|website=Liverpoolcityregion.uk|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230222135/http://www.liverpoolcityregion.uk/the-history-of-halton.html|url-status=dead}} Further making Widnes advantageous for the Irish to move to was its close proximity to Liverpool. Since then, a large number of overspill from the neighbouring city of Liverpool have brought many more people of Irish descent to Widnes too, particularly in areas at the west end of the town such as Ditton and Hough Green, where overspill are still moved.{{cite web|url=http://www4.halton.gov.uk/Pages/planning/policyguidance/pdf/CoreStrategy.pdf|title=Halton Borough Council : Halton Core Strategy|date=April 2013|website=Halton.gov.uk|access-date=10 January 2018}}

Wigan, being almost equal distance from Liverpool and Manchester received high immigration rates of Irish people in the 1800s. The Wigan districts population doubled from 60,000 in 1841 to 120,000 in 1871 with the immigration of Irish to the town the biggest factor. The Irish mainly settled in the central areas of the town such as Scholes and Ince with the area around Belle Green Lane referred to as Irishtown. St Patrick's church in Scholes was built in 1847 on the back of huge swathes of Irish immigration.

The local amateur rugby league club Wigan St Patricks has the Irish shamrock on the club badge with green and black being the club colours.

The Wigan accent has even been affected by the great number of Irish coming to the town. The local word "moidered", known elsewhere as "mithered", is said to have derived from pronouncing the word mithered in an Irish accent.

Wolverhampton prospered during the Industrial Revolution, particularly having successful iron and locomotive industries, which attracted many Irish escaping the Great Famine. As well as this, Wolverhampton had a longstanding Roman Catholic community from as early as the 18th century, leading to the city sometimes being nicknamed "Little Rome", which began to attract Irish to the city from an early stage.{{cite web|url=http://www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/people/migration/irish|title=Irish Migrants|first=Richard|last=Inman|date=13 January 2006|website=Wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk|access-date=10 January 2018|archive-date=10 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210120912/http://www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/people/migration/irish|url-status=dead}}

There are long standing migration links between Scotland and the Province of Ulster, especially between County Donegal, County Antrim and County Down with the west coast of Scotland. Considering the Dal Riada kingdoms and the gaelicisation of Scotland in the early Middle Ages, it is difficult to determine how many Scots have genetic ancestry from Ireland historically or how many were Picts who adopted Irish lifestyles, although the general consensus is that both happened as Pictish culture vanished by the 11th century. In 2001, around 55,000 people in Scotland (1.1 per cent of the Scottish population) had been born in Ireland, while people of Irish (either Protestant or Catholic) ancestry make up 20% of the Scottish population. Scotland has a greater number of persons born in Northern Ireland and County Donegal (0.66 per cent) than people who were born in the rest of Ireland (0.43%). Despite having lower than average numbers of Irish people resident, the Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge is more than 50% Catholic.Scottish 2001 census.{{Full citation needed|date=October 2010}} The town is populated by the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation children of Irish immigrants, especially immigrants from County Donegal. In 2006 more than 28% of adults in Coatbridge had surnames with Irish origins.{{cite web|url=http://originsinfo.com.au/pdf/Sunday_Times_Scot_Barra_the_most_Scottish_place_060910.pdf|title=Barra 'the most Scottish place'|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=10 September 2006|first1=Tara|last1=Womersley|first2=Robert|last2=Winnett|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105205137/http://originsinfo.com.au/pdf/Sunday_Times_Scot_Barra_the_most_Scottish_place_060910.pdf|archivedate=5 January 2009}} Coatbridge holds the largest St. Patrick's Day Festival in Scotland.

Famous Scots of Irish-Catholic ancestry include actors Sean Connery, Brian Cox and Gerard Butler; comedians Billy Connolly and Frankie Boyle; singers Susan Boyle, Gerry Rafferty, Fran Healy and David Byrne; historians Tom Devine and Michael Lynch; footballers like Jimmy McGrory and Ray Houghton; politicians like James Connolly (the trade unionist and Easter Rising leader), Jim Murphy (former British Shadow Defence Secretary), and socialist political figure Tommy Sheridan; television presenter Lorraine Kelly; businessmen like Thomas Lipton; and writers Arthur Conan Doyle, A. J. Cronin, John Byrne and Andrew O'Hagan.

Support for particular football teams often reflects Catholic or Protestant heritage. Celtic are overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, supported by people from a Catholic background. Hibernian and Dundee United were formed as clubs representing Irish Catholics, however there is little vestige of these founding values today. Teams such as Dundee (though founded before Dundee United on entirely secular grounds), Heart of Midlothian and Lanarkshire teams such as Motherwell and Airdrie are contentiously perceived by some as Protestant clubs. Rangers are seen as having retained a Protestant identity, despite signing a number of Catholic players since the 1980s.

Today a very small minority of the Irish Catholic community in Scotland take part in Irish republican marches (mainly in Strathclyde), though these marches do not have exclusively Catholics in attendance, with many Protestants and others of various faiths or none involved,{{Cite web|url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/17888117.glasgows-irish-republican-marches-marred-paedo-scum-chants-loyalist-protesters/|title=Chaotic scene at Glasgow's Irish Republican marches|website=Glasgow Times|date=7 September 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18040684.policing-irish-republican-marches-glasgow-cost-150k-loyalist-parades/|title=Policing Irish Republican marches in Glasgow cost £150k more than Loyalist parades|website=Glasgow Times|date=16 November 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-20}} and the Orange Order has a large membership in Scotland, predominantly in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. As well as Scotland's own parades, many Scottish bands parade in Ulster (chiefly in Northern Ireland and County Donegal) on or around 12 July.

Starting in the 4th century AD, Irish raiders settled Wales extensively, their impact being so great that many Irish words were introduced into the Welsh language.Fischer, Steven Roger. A History of Language, Reaktion Books, 1999, pp. 117 Many Irish emigrants came to Wales as a result of the famine of 1845–52. They were often very poor, and seen as carrying "famine fever" (typhus), but over time they acquired a notable presence—in the thousands, particularly in the Welsh coal mining towns in and around Swansea and Newport.

One of the most famous Welsh nationals of Irish-Catholic ancestry is screen actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.{{Cite web|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestry|title=Myths of British ancestry|last=Oppenheimer|first=Stephen|date=21 October 2006|access-date=2020-01-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/catherine-zeta-jones/pages/biography.shtml|title=BBC - Wales - Arts - Catherine Zeta Jones - Catherine Zeta Jones biography|website=BBC|access-date=2020-01-20}}

The Irish language is taught at all levels in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth University in West Wales, and scholarships offered to students to do intensive summer language courses in Ireland {{cite web | url=https://courses.aber.ac.uk/undergraduate/celtic-studies-degree/#course-overview | title=Aberystwyth University - Celtic Studies Q500 BA }}

The large-scale migration of Irish people to Britain in the 19th century contributed to the reemergence of the Catholic Church in England, which ultimately accelerated tolerance for freedom of religion in the United Kingdom.{{Cite book|title=Migrants to Britain c.1250 to present|chapter=Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations|author1=Martin Spafford|author2=Dan Lyndon|date=2016|isbn=978-1471860140|publisher=Hodder Education|quote=As well as contributing to Britain's growing economoy, Irish migration also revitalised the Catholic Church in England. This help to speed up the move towards equal rights to worship all religions.}} Observed by the Catholic Church, Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated throughout Great Britain, owing to many British people's ancestral links with Ireland as well as the general popularity of the event. Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester have particularly large parades.

The Irish language has a long history in Britain. Gaels came to Britain between the 4th to 5th centuries and established Irish speaking communities in the west coast of Scotland that remain to this day. The waves of immigrants from Ireland that settled in British communities in the 19th century included speakers of Irish but English became the norm. However, there are regular gatherings of Irish speakers in London,{{Cite web|url=http://www.meetup.com/ar-an-drabhlas-Londain/|title=Ar an Drabhlás -The London Irish Language Meetup|website=Meetup|access-date=2016-08-27}} Glasgow{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnag-glaschu.co.uk//|title=CNaG Glaschú - Fáilte|website=Cnag-glaschu.co.uk|access-date=2016-08-27}} and Manchester{{Cite web|url=http://www.mancirishlang.org.uk/learning.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911125741/http://mancirishlang.org.uk/learning.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 11, 2024|title=Manchester Irish Language Group|website=MancIrishLang.org.uk|access-date=2016-08-27}} and lessons available all over Britain including Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Brighton, Lewisham, Hammersmith,{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk/?q=adult%2Flanguage |title=Adult Education/Irish Language | Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith |access-date=2016-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416155056/http://www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk/?q=adult%2Flanguage |archive-date=2016-04-16 |url-status=dead }} Camden,{{Cite web|url=http://www.londonirishcentre.org/events/|title=What's On at The London Irish Centre|website=Londonirishcentre.org|access-date=2016-08-27}} Birmingham,{{Cite web|url=http://www.irishcentrebirmingham.co.uk/index.php/aboutus/81|title=Activities at the Centre - Irish Centre Birmingham|website=Irishcentrebirmingham.co.uk|access-date=27 August 2016|archive-date=8 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508075334/http://www.irishcentrebirmingham.co.uk/index.php/aboutus/81|url-status=dead}} Liverpool,{{Cite web|url=http://www.stmichaelsirishcentre.org/#!regular-events/ilke0|title=st-micks|website=st-micks|access-date=2016-08-27}} Leeds,{{Cite web|url=http://www.irisharts.org.uk/events|title=Irish Arts Foundation|publisher=Irisharts.org.uk|access-date=2016-08-27|archive-date=2016-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416084034/http://www.irisharts.org.uk/events|url-status=dead}} Newcastle{{Cite web|url=http://www.getintonewcastle.co.uk/whats-on/events/irish-language-lessons-2/|title=Irish Language Lessons|publisher=Get Into Newcastle|website=Getintonewcastle.co.uk|access-date=2016-08-27|archive-date=2016-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413060822/http://www.getintonewcastle.co.uk/whats-on/events/irish-language-lessons-2/|url-status=dead}} and Cardiff.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jomec.co.uk/altcardiff/culture/irish-classes-available-in-cardiff|title=Irish classes available in Cardiff - alt.cardiff|website=Jomec.co.uk|date=2015-12-01|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-27}} While several British universities offer a one-term-long introduction to the Irish language, the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth University in west Wales is the only university to teach the modern Irish language at all levels. Modules in Old, Middle and Early-Modern Irish are also offered, and students can receive scholarships to do intensive summer courses in Ireland.

The lack of provision for legal and citizenship services in the Irish language, including for the Life in the United Kingdom test, has been met with criticism from the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, of which the UK has ratified for the Cornish language, the Irish language, Manx Gaelic, the Scots & Ulster Scots dialects, Scottish Gaelic and the Welsh language. In a 2014 report detailing the application of the charter in the UK, the Committee were given no justification for the inequality in the treatment of Irish speakers in contrast to that of English, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh speakers, and said that efforts to rectify the inequality were non-existent.{{cite book |last1=European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages |first1=Committee of Experts |title=Application of the Charter in the United Kingdom |date=15 January 2014 |publisher=Council of Europe |location=Strasbourg |page=15 |url=http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/EvaluationReports/UKECRML4_en.pdf |access-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101082715/http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/Report/EvaluationReports/UKECRML4_en.pdf |archive-date=1 January 2017 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 3(78)|author1-link=European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages }}{{cite journal |last1=Mac Síthigh |first1=Daithí |title=Official status of languages in the United Kingdom and Ireland |journal=Common Law World Review |date=March 2018 |volume=47 |issue=1 |page=111 |doi=10.1177/1473779518773642 |url=https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/141540053/Status_OA_Feb_2018.pdf |access-date=21 January 2021 |location=Queen's University Belfast |s2cid=219987922 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219231021/https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/141540053/Status_OA_Feb_2018.pdf |archive-date=2020-12-19 |language=en}}

Sports teams with links to the Irish community exist in England, although this is not as marked as in Scotland.

In football, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United have a tradition of representing the Irish communities in their area although unlike many clubs in Scotland they were not formed on the basis of representing the Irish community. For example, Arsenal has featured ethnically Irish players such as Liam Brady, Terry Neill, Pat Rice, Niall Quinn, David O'Leary and Graham Barrett. Aston Villa has featured many Irish players such as Steve Staunton, Paul McGrath, Richard Dunne and former managers David O'Leary and Martin O'Neill. Aston Villa has a large Irish following in the West Midlands which has the highest proportion of Irish people in England. Both Everton and Liverpool have roots in a Methodist church but Everton F.C. was often described as Liverpool's Irish Catholic team, probably because Everton had a number of Irish internationals in the 1950s. Liverpool F.C. was formed by a prominent Orangeman but this fact did not deter Liverpool people from a Catholic background supporting the team. Everton has notably produced Wayne Rooney who is of Irish descent and have recently featured promising Irish international Séamus Coleman; as were prominent Liverpool players who were Everton fans in their youth such as Jamie Carragher and Steve McManaman. Recently Jonjo Shelvey has become the latest in a line of Liverpool players with Irish heritage, going back to the days of Mark Lawrenson, Ronnie Whelan and Ray Houghton. Neither Liverpool nor Everton have a sectarian affiliation and many families are split in support of the clubs.

Under the management of Sir Matt Busby, Manchester United also emerged as a club with a considerable Irish following both in Great Britain and in Ireland itself, as well as having notable Irish stars like George Best, Norman Whiteside, Mal Donaghy, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, and recently John O'Shea.

In rugby league, Dewsbury Celtic represented the large Irish community in Dewsbury, and St. Helens represent communities on Merseyside. Wigan St Patricks amateur rugby league club is borne out of the St Patricks Catholic Church in Scholes, Wigan, that was built in 1847 after huge swathes of Irish moved to the town.

The rugby union club London Irish represents the community in London.

The British GAA is responsible for Gaelic games in Britain. There are seven GAA counties within Britain and a number of hurling, football and camogie clubs operate within each county.

Ever since the Brexit vote in 2016, over 400,000 British persons with ties to Ireland – mainly that of Irish diaspora – applied for an Irish passport as of 2021. This phenomenon further adds on to the growing demand for Irish identity, but is also attributed to rising popularity in European Union citizenship.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/03/brexit-vote-sparked-surge-in-irish-passports-issued-in-great-britain|title= Brexit vote sparked surge in Irish passports issued in Great Britain|date=2021|access-date=24 December 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}}

In 1870, Karl Marx examined how the migration of Irish labour into the British labour market caused significant problems for the nascent English trade union movement since an over-supply of workers enabled employers to lower wages and threaten organised British workers with replacement by Irish migrants. Marx wrote in a letter that "the ordinary English worker hates the Irish worker as a competitor who lowers his standard of life", in addition to noting that "every industrial and commercial centre in England now possesses a working class divided into two hostile camps", consisting of the English and Irish working class.

Perceptions of Irish immigration in Victorian Britain led to negative stereotypes. Settling in large numbers, at a time of unprecedented economic development, Irish people, and especially those living in poverty, were seen as innately criminal by elements of British society.{{Cite book|title=Irish in Britain, 1815-1939|chapter=Crime and the Irish in nineteenth-century Britain|editor1=Roger Swift|editor2=Sheridan Gilley|author=Roger Swift|date=1989|isbn=978-0861877744|publisher=Pinter Publishers|quote=However, with the massive increase in Irish migration to Britain during the nineteenth century, the more widespread belief within the host society in the innate criminality of the Irish – and particularly the Irish poor – formed an integral component of the negative side of the Irish stereotype.}} It was even a widespread belief that Irish migrants formed the core of what were described as the "dangerous classes", and represented a threat to law and order.{{Cite book|title=Irish Identities in Victorian Britain|chapter='A Source of Sad Annoyance': The Irish and Crime in South Wales, 1841-81|editor1=Roger Swift|editor2=Sheridan Gilley|author=Veronica Summers|date=2015|page=172|isbn=978-1138868120|publisher=Routledge|quote=During the nineteenth century these views became particularly significant, as they influenced public opinion through a period in which major Irish migration to Britain coincided with unprecedented social and economic change on a number of fronts ... Victorians expanded the stereotype, seeing the Irish not only as innately criminal, but more criminal than the rest of society, and forming the heart of the 'dangerous classes' who were perceived to be a great threat to law and order in nineneeth-century Britain.}} The Vagrancy Act 1824 was, in part, a reaction to significant levels of perceived vagrancy from Irish people "searching for generous local welfare in England".{{Cite book|title=Coping with City Growth during the British Industrial Revolution|chapter=Coping with city growth|author=Jeffrey G. Williamson|author-link=Jeffrey G. Williamson|date=1990|page=161|isbn=978-0521364805|publisher=Cambridge University Press|quote=There is some evidence of an acceleration in Irish immigration into Britain during the 1816-19 period of agricultural distress, when in fact Irish vagrants appear to be searching for generous local welfare in England (Redford, 1926, p.138). The pace of migration continued at this relative fast rate throughout most of the 1820s in part due to Irish famine, in part due to the continued crowding-out of the cottage textile industry in Ireland, in part due to the impressive decline in fares for passage across the Irish Sea}}

The results of Irish migration during the 19th century were also perceived as bringing disease and poverty into urban centres, in particular cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.{{Cite book|title=In Search of a Better Life|chapter=Irish Hard-Rock Miners in Ireland, Britain & the United States|page=179|author1=Graham Davis|author2=Matthew Goulding|date=2011|isbn=978-0752459547|publisher=The History Press|quote=Irish immigration into Britain has more often than not been viewed within a negative framework. The major settlements of poor Irish in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow were invariably associated with a host of social problems - poverty, overcrowding, diseases, disorder and political violence.}}

A 2009 study published in Ethnicity & Health demonstrated that the grouping self-reported higher rates of poor general health than the White British populace. This was found to be particularly the case in Northern Ireland, for those who had designated themselves as White, and with an "Irish" national identity.{{Cite book|title=Ethnicity & Health|chapter=The Irish health disadvantage in England: contribution of structure and identity components of Irish ethnicity |pages=553–73|author1=Marie Clucas|date=December 2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|quote=Results: When compared to the white British reference population, the self-reported 'white Irish' population overall, the Irish born in Northern Ireland, and UK-born Irish, show a significantly increased risk of both self-reported poor general health and limiting long-term illness.}} In 2020, a UCL study based in NHS England data, showed that the White Irish group was around 50 per cent less at risk of death from COVID-19 than other black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups. This was significantly lower than the White British group, which were 12 per cent lower than the average risk for BAME communities.{{Cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/white-irish-in-england-half-as-likely-to-die-from-covid-19-than-minorities-1.4246823|title=White Irish in England half as likely to die from Covid-19 than minorities|author=Colin Gleeson|date=7 May 2020|work=Irish Times}}

In 2015 research, University of Southampton fellow Dr Rosalind Willis explored the social fragility of the White Irish ethnicity, particularly in England where distinctions between White British and White Irish are, at times, openly denied.{{Cite book|title=Ethnic and Racial Studies|chapter=The fragility of “white Irish” as a minority ethnic identity in England|pages=1681–1699|author=Rosalind Willis|date=September 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|quote=Through the use of fieldnotes and interview extracts, I discuss how I became aware that my ethnic identity was not always recognized by participants, and in some cases the distinction between white Irish and white British was denied.}}

In July 2019, the East Ham constituency Labour branch was criticised for its election of a white Irish woman as the women’s officer for its Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) forum. The woman in question self-identified as being an ethnic minority and no objections within the branch were raised against her election. Branch secretary, Syed Taqi Shah commented that "if somebody self-declares [as BAME], and the Labour Party allows them to do so, they should be respected."{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Nadine |title=A White Woman Has Been Elected To Run A Labour Forum For BAME People |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/east-ham-clp-hire-white-head-of-bame-forum_uk_5d270667e4b0583e482c7dbb |website=HuffPost UK |access-date=3 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503031155/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/east-ham-clp-hire-white-head-of-bame-forum_uk_5d270667e4b0583e482c7dbb |archive-date=3 May 2024 |location=London |language=en |date=11 July 2019}}{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Jon |title=Race row erupts after a white Irishwoman is picked to represent BAME females in East Ham Labour |url=https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/21426006.race-row-erupts-white-irishwoman-picked-represent-bame-females-east-ham-labour/ |website=Newham Recorder |publisher=Archant |access-date=3 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503032044/https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/21426006.race-row-erupts-white-irishwoman-picked-represent-bame-females-east-ham-labour/ |archive-date=3 May 2024 |location=Barking |language=en |date=10 July 2019}}

In a 1995 study, sociologist Jock Young found that of 1000 randomly selected residents of Finsbury Park when were asked if they had been stopped by the police over the past year, the White Irish population was disproportionately large with 14.3%, in contrast to 12.8% of Black Caribbean and 5.8% of White British people. The researchers found the Police tactic of "lurking and larking", whereby constables would wait outside Irish pubs and clubs to make arrests to be to blame for the high statistics, which was labelled a form of "institutional racism".{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=Jock |author1-link=Jock Young |title=Policing the Streets |date=1995 |publisher=Islington Council |location=London |pages=1–2, 38 |url=https://islingtoncrimesurvey.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/islington-policing_ethnic_minorities-3.pdf |access-date=17 March 2021 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=Bronwen |title=The Irish Community in Britain - diversity, disadvantage and discrimination |date=18 June 1999 |publisher=Anglia Polytechnic University |location=Cambridge |url=https://www.runnymedetrust.org/bgIrishCommunity.html |access-date=17 March 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210317003220/https://www.runnymedetrust.org/bgIrishCommunity.html |archive-date=17 March 2021 |language=en |chapter=Criminal justice and policing experience}}

The 2001 UK census was the first which allowed British citizens to identify an Irish ethnicity. In all previous British censuses, figures for the Irish community were based on Irish birthplace. The percentage claiming White Irish descent in England and Wales was 1.2 per cent, with the highest concentration found in the London Borough of Brent, where they made up 6.9 per cent of the population,{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/commentaries/ethnicity.asp|title=Census 2001 – Ethnicity and religion in England and Wales|publisher=Office for National Statistics|access-date=2 October 2010}} while the figure for Scotland was 0.98 per cent.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18876/32939|title=Analysis of ethnicity in the 2001 Census – Summary report|publisher=The Scottish Government|date=February 2004|access-date=2 October 2010}} The Irish have been the largest source of immigrants to Britain for over 200 years and as many as six million people in the UK are estimated to have at least one Irish grandparent.

As of 2011, the highest concentration was in the London Borough of Brent where they made up 4.0 per cent of the population. This was followed by the Inner London boroughs of Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham and Camden, and the Outer London boroughs of Ealing and Harrow (all above 3.0 per cent). The highest concentration outside London was the city of Manchester, at 2.4 per cent.{{cite web |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks201ew.xls |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160108131319/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks201ew.xls |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-01-08 |title=2011 Census: Key Statistics for local authorities in England and Wales |publisher=Office for National Statistics |date=11 December 2012 |at=Table KS201EW 2011 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in England and Wales |access-date=2020-11-20}}

The 2021 census (2022 in Ireland and Scotland) was the first time since detailed records have been available that the Irish-born population comprised less than 1% of the population of Great Britain, and the first time since 1841 that it was less than 10% of the population of Ireland.

The age profile of the Irish-born is shown below. The population is aging, with 63% aged over 50 (compared to 39% among those born in England). 50.4% of those born in the Republic of Ireland arrived before 1981.{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/create/filter-outputs/80b4aeea-90a5-400a-ad8e-08c1a79e9d87#get-data|title=2021 England/Wales Census date of arrival by country of birth|access-date=27 November 2024}} Since those born in Northern Ireland are counted as UK citizens, information on when they moved is not available.

In contrast to the stereotype of the Irish navvy or building worker, almost two thirds of Irish people under 50 in England are now full time students (ages 16-24) or working in professional, administrative, and management positions.{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/create/filter-outputs/a1e47edc-4505-42d3-9d92-7b6d9f7903e3#get-data|title=2021 England/Wales Census country of birth, Socio-economic Classification, by age|access-date=27 November 2024}} This is in comparison to 49% of 16-24 year olds in full time education, and 43% of the population in professional, administrative and management positions in the English-born.

Similarly, a significantly higher percentage of Irish-born people hold a degree or equivalent, compared to England overall.{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/create/filter-outputs/3cd40a89-0285-447a-8239-57e836695555#get-data|title=2021 England/Wales Census country of birth, Highest level of qualification, by age|access-date=27 November 2024}} Nearly 75% of 25-34 year olds and 66% of 35–44 year olds hold a degree, compared to 43–45% of English people. It is higher across all age groups under 75.

There are few significant differences between those born in Northern Ireland and those born in the Republic, among the Irish-born in England under 50. However those born in Northern Ireland and over 50 are more likely to have a degree and to be in a professional occupation.

The 2022 Scottish census reports 59,343 residents (1.1% of the Scottish population) who were born in Ireland, of which 37,260 (2% of the population of Northern Ireland) were born in Northern Ireland and 22,083 born in the Republic of Ireland (0.4% of its population).

The age profile of the Irish-born in Scotland from the 2022 Census is shown below. Compared to the population in England, the Irish-born living in Scotland are much younger, with fewer than half over 50 and a median age in the mid-40s.{{cite web|url=https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/dataCatalogueExplorer.xhtml|title=2022 Scotland Census Flexible Table Builder|access-date=7 December 2024}}

Similar to the Irish in England, the majority are either full time students (72% of 16-24 year olds) or in managerial, administrative and professional occupations (60% of those between 25 and 50). Irish-born are twice as likely to be in upper managerial, administrative and professional occupations as those born in Scotland.

Similarly, a significantly higher percentage of Irish-born people hold a degree or equivalent, compared to Scotland overall. More than 75% of 25-34 year olds and nearly 70% of 35–49 year olds hold a degree. Irish-born are twice as likely to have a degree than those born in Scotland

See: British people of Irish descent

{{portal|Ireland|Northern Ireland|Cornwall|England|Scotland|Wales|United Kingdom}}

• Anglo-Irish
• Glorious Revolution
• Ireland–United Kingdom relations
• Irish in Britain (charity)
• Irish military diaspora#Britain
• James II of England
• Lilliburlero
• St Giles in the Fields

1. {{note|guardian}} The article "More Britons applying for Irish passports" states that 6 million British nationals have either an Irish grandfather or grandmother and are thus able to apply for Irish citizenship.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/sep/13/britishidentity.travelnews|title=More Britons applying for Irish passports|first1=Owen|last1=Bowcott|date=13 September 2006|access-date=10 January 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}

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{{refend|2}}

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• [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/Onlineresources/RWWC/themes/1295/1151 Reassessing what we collect website – Irish London] History of Irish London with objects and images
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• [http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/bleakhouse/carter.html The Slum of All Fears: Dickens's Concern with Urban Poverty and Sanitation]

{{UK census ethnic groups}}

{{EuropeansinUK |state=autocollapse}}

{{Irish diaspora}}

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Category:Ireland–United Kingdom relations