Stereotypes of Irish people#Alcoholism
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Stereotypes of Irish people include actual or imagined characteristics of Irish people used by people who view the Irish as a single and homogeneous group.
Common stereotypes
=Fighting=
The Irish are often stereotyped as being hot-tempered and eager for physical confrontation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tenontours.com/blog/dispelling-irish-stereotypes-why-are-the-irish-hot-tempered-fighting-and-angry/|title=Dispelling Fighting Irish Stereotypes Why Are the Irish Hot-Tempered Fighting and Angry|work=Tenon Tours|date=8 October 2013 |access-date=24 March 2023}} Boxing has a long history in Ireland, and the country has produced several Olympic gold medalist boxers, including Michael Carruth, Katie Taylor, and Kellie Harrington;{{Cite web|url=https://www.irish-boxing.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-boxing-in-ireland/#:~:text=Boxing%20became%20increasingly%20popular%20in,a%20popular%20sport%20in%20Ireland.|title=Everything You Need to Know About Boxing in Ireland|work=Irish Boxing|date=8 August 2022 |access-date=24 March 2023}} and UFC champion Conor McGregor.
Ireland's reputation for violence has been referenced in several media. For example, the Irish-American ballad "Finnegan's Wake" describes a wake that devolves into a brawl, during which whiskey is accidentally spilled onto the corpse. This causes the corpse to resurrect and join the brawl. The University of Notre Dame also uses the Fighting Irish as their mascot.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc57.com/news/website-questions-if-fighting-irish-nickname-is-offensive#:~:text=Notre%20Dame's%20nickname%20%E2%80%93%20Fighting%20Irish,Irish%E2%80%9D%20during%20a%20football%20game.|title=Website questions if "Fighting Irish" nickname is offensive|work=WBND-LD|last=Bailey|first=Jonathan|access-date=24 March 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://slapthesign.com/2020/07/06/thoughts-notre-dame-nickname/|title=Is it time to reconsider Notre Dame's Fighting Irish nickname?|last=Morrison|first=Daniel|work=Fansided|date=6 July 2020 |access-date=24 March 2023}}
=Food=
Stereotypical Irish foods include chicken fillet rolls, bacon, corned beef and cabbage, and potatoes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/food/features/traditional-irish-food-america-accurate/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319014538/http://www.pbs.org/food/features/traditional-irish-food-america-accurate/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 19, 2013|title=Is Traditional Irish Food in America Accurate?|last=Gray|first=Allison|work=PBS|access-date=24 March 2023}}
=Alcoholism=
The Irish have been stereotyped as heavy drinkers for centuries.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/medical-history/article/great-race-of-drinkers-irish-interpretations-of-alcoholism-and-drinking-stereotypes-19451975/23DB14BF85F151C706824FD36D9396B3|title=A great race of drinkers? Irish interpretations of alcoholism and drinking stereotypes, 1945-1975|last=Mauger|first=Alice|journal=Cambridge University Press|date=2021 |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=70–89 |doi=10.1017/mdh.2020.51 |access-date=24 March 2023|pmc=7739064}}{{Cite book |last=Stollznow |first=Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0UBEAAAQBAJ&dq=leprechaun+red+stereotype+irish&pg=PT288 |title=On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present |date=2020-10-15 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-85359-0 |language=en}}
=Red hair=
File:Sergines-89-carnaval-2015-D10.jpg is an Irish stereotype.]]
The Irish are often stereotyped as possessing red hair. Ireland has the highest amount of naturally occurring red hair at 10%. Furthermore, it is estimated that 46% of Ireland's population carries MC1R, the gene responsible for producing red hair.{{Cite web|url=https://gingerparrot.co.uk/why-do-people-think-all-redheads-are-irish/|title=Why do people think all redheads are Irish?|work=Ginger Parrot|access-date=24 March 2023}} County Cork is home to the annual Irish Redhead Convention.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-28794036|title=The Irish Redhead Convention takes place in County Cork|last=Curtis|first=Dan|work=BBC News|access-date=24 March 2023}}
Having red hair is its own stereotype, and it is associated with undesirable behaviors, such as anger and being mischievous, "like a redheaded leprechaun".
=Black Irish=
The Black Irish – not Irish people of African descent, but white people of Irish ancestry who had black or dark hair, or an appearance similar to people from the ethnic groups indigenous to the land around the Mediterranean Sea{{Cite book |last=Tate |first=Claudia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G3U8DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Black+Irish%22+%22Irish+of+Mediterranean+appearance%22&pg=PA24 |title=Psychoanalysis and Black Novels: Desire and the Protocols of Race |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-509683-5 |pages=24 |language=en}} – have been stereotyped as being especially prone to fighting.{{Cite book |last=Alsop |first=Stewart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rIYADAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Black+Irish%22+%22black+hair%22&pg=PT82 |title=Nixon & Rockefeller: A Double Portrait |date=2016-06-07 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-1-4804-4600-7 |pages=82 |language=en |quote=Black Irish have the reputation of being even more ready to fight at the drop of a hat than most Irish, and anyone who has ever done any experimental pub crawling in New York's Irish bars will testify that the reputation is justified.}} The appearance was also associated with anti-Black racial ridicule.
=Religion=
The Irish are often stereotyped as being devoutly religious and conservative. Christianity has been the largest religion in Ireland since the 5th century. {{As of|2022}}, 69% of Ireland's population adhered to the Catholic Church,{{cite web |title=Census of Population 2022 Profile 5 - Diversity, Migration, Ethnicity, Irish Travellers & Religion |url=https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpp5/censusofpopulation2022profile5-diversitymigrationethnicityirishtravellersreligion/religion/ |website=www.cso.ie |publisher=Central Statistics Office (Ireland) |access-date=18 May 2025}} and both Irish people and people with red hair are stereotyped as being Catholic. A 2018 study ranked Irish citizens between 16 and 29 among the most religious in Europe.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/young-irish-people-among-the-most-religious-in-europe-1.3441046|title=Young Irish people among the most religious in Europe|last=McGarry|first=Patsy|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=24 March 2023}} However, a "Quiet Revolution" is taking place, and Ireland is becoming increasingly secular.{{Cite web |last=Serhan |first=Yasmeen |date=2018-05-26 |title=A 'Quiet Revolution' Comes to Ireland |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/a-quiet-revolution-comes-to-ireland/561347/ |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}
=Enmity towards the British=
{{Main|Ireland-United Kingdom relations}}
Due to many events in the shared history between the nations, such as the Great Famine, there is a lasting sense of anti-British sentiment in Ireland.{{Cite web|url=https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/233151|title=Ireland and Britain: 800 Years of Conflict|work=The Smithsonian|access-date=24 March 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1963/01/irelands-hunger-englands-fault/658708/|title=Ireland's Hunger, England's Fault?|last=Woodham-Smith|first=Cecil|work=The Atlantic|date=January 1963 |access-date=24 March 2023}} Despite the troubled history between the two nations, both share close economic ties.