Fighting talk allows sober realisation

On St Patrick’s Day many people in the United States assert that there are really only two kinds of people — “the Irish and those who wish they were (Irish)”.

When people talk about the Irish on this day, all too many speak about us in terms synonymous with fighting and drinking, which goes back to the days when Irish gangs roamed and terrorised American cities more than a century and a half ago.

The Irish still have the reputation of being heavy drinkers. We are the heaviest stout consumers in the world consuming over 20% of the total value of the world's stout market.