[FuckingRotter]

You could suggest that Scots, Welsh, even Cornish, aren't British on the basis of language. As I have already pointed out, Ireland was only ever united when it was a part of the United Kingdom. There is as much that divides the Irish as there is divides British people in general.

There is much more that unites us. We have a common language. We had, until partition, a common currency. We have only ever had a closed border when the provisional IRA made its imposition an absolute necessity. Eire joined the EU in order to prevent an international border.

Even after the republic went its own way, we remained friends. Ireland was bombed by the Germans, and whilst it remained neutral throughout WWII, many Irish fought on the side of the allies, joining British, US and Canadian regiments in order to do so. Ireland even provided the BBC with trailblazing war correspondents willing to risk life and limb in order to get the news back to Blighty.

Yes, Irish people may be very different from English people, but they are not very different from British people.

I'll quote an Irishman, Ronnie Drew, late of The Dubliners, on the subject of Britishness: "I come from County Kerry, the land of eggs and bacon, if you think I'll eat your fish and chips, oh Jeez, but you're mistaken." Eggs and bacon are a staple of the full English breakfast, and contrary to what a Yorkshireman may tell you, fish and chips were first peddled in Londons East End, by Jews no less, cashing in on the Catholic habit of eating fish on a Friday!