Women hold up our national identity — but at what cost?

Putting ourselves out for other people is what being Irish is all about, I found myself telling an English friend. If 'communalism' is what makes Ireland, who's doing it, asks Belinda Vigors 

The Irish Housewives Association and other women's networks successfully campaigned to have the needs of their communities seen and addressed. 

“The difference with an Irish person,” I pontificated to a friend recently, “is that we will inconvenience ourselves to help someone out.” For context, I live in England. And bigging up Ireland, romanticising it even, is part of the unofficial ambassadorial role us ‘Irish Abroad’ take upon ourselves. 

Chief among the qualities of life ‘back home’ most of us preach, or miss, is community. It’s as though, embedded within us, is an inherent belief that being Irish and community-minded just go together. We pride ourselves on it.