Irish people

The Irish are an nation who come from or came from the island of Ireland. There are two countries on the island of Ireland: the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Historically, the Irish have been primarily a Celtic people. Many countries, especially English-speaking countries, have people with Irish roots.

Irish people
Muintir na hÉireann

Total population
c. 80–90* million worldwide
Regions with significant populations
Republic of Ireland   4,581,269 (2011) Northern Ireland   1,810,863 (2011) (Irish descent only)
United States	40,000,000+:
Great Britain	14,000,000+:
Australia	7,000,000+:
Canada	4,544,870+:
Argentina	1,000,000
Mexico	600,000
New Zealand	600,000
France	15,000
Languages
Irish (Gaelic), English (Irish English dialects), Scots (Ulster Scots dialects), Shelta
Religion
Christianity (Catholic Church)
Related ethnic groups
Irish Travellers, Anglo-Irish, Bretons, Cornish, English, Icelanders, Manx, Norse, Scots, Ulster Scots, Welsh
* Around 800,000 people born in Ireland reside in Great Britain, with around 14,000,000 people claiming Irish ancestry.

In Northern Ireland, there have been violent fights between the Unionists, who identify as British people and are mainly Protestant, and the Nationalists, who identify as Irish and are mainly Catholic. Irish people have a strong culture and beliefs.

Due to problems in Ireland, most importantly a famine between 1845 and 1852, caused by the potatoes in Ireland being destroyed by disease, many Irish moved out of Ireland, including Great Britain, and to other countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia. At present, many more Irish live in the United States than in Ireland, with many of them living in large American cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The population of Irish people in the United States is over seven times more populated than that of those who live in the original homeland of Ireland.

Irish People Media

• Map of the Irish Diaspora in the World.svg

  Map of the Irish people around the world. (The map might include people with Irish ancestry or citizenship)*  Ireland and Northern Ireland*

• Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery P7 2015 09 08.jpg

  Carrowmore tomb, c. 3000 BC

• On an Irish jaunting-car through Donegal and Connemara (1902) (14595035740).jpg

  An Irishman beside his donkey in County Galway, 1902

• Clonard RC Church St Finian 07 Detail 2007 08 26.jpg

  Finnian of Clonard imparting his blessing to the "Twelve Apostles of Ireland"

• Dalriada.png

  The approximate area of the Dál Riata (shaded)

• 16th-century-Irish.jpg

  Irish Gaels in a painting from the 16th century

• Ireland 1450.png

  Ireland in 1450 showing lands held by native Irish (green), the Anglo-Irish (blue) and the English king (dark grey).

• Archive-ugent-be-79D46426-CC9D-11E3-B56B-4FBAD43445F2 DS-25 (cropped).jpg

  A 16th century perception of Irish women and girls, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by Lucas d'Heere in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.

• Galloglass-circa-1521.jpg

  Gaelic Irish soldiers in the Low Countries, from a drawing of 1521 by Albrecht Dürer

• Robert Boyle 0001.jpg

  Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish scientist and father of chemistry, whose father Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork had settled in Ireland in the Munster plantations in 1580.

Further reading

• Irish Immigrant who served in US Civil War
• Cork man survived the Titanic
• Irish Immigrant who served in World War I