The Irish question

ON the back of Enda Kenny’s recent speech on immigration, I caught a vox pop on radio in which the reporter quizzed some non-nationals about all things Irish.

Not surprisingly, they struggled with the signatories to the Proclamation, while their command of hurling and gaelic football lore would not cause Jimmy Magee to lose any sleep. All very good-humoured and no harm done, I suppose, but the thought did strike me that immigrants would stand a much better chance of correctly answering questions about Irish players in the Premiership or the World Cup. Surely the nation’s soccer stars aren’t still considered somehow less authentically Irish than their gaelic football or hurling counterparts?