Being Irish in the Dear Green Place

It isn’t a rare sight for the citizens of  Glasgow to witness a parade.

However, on the weekend there, it wasn’t just another Saturday.

Something genuinely historic took place.

Over the years, I have been persistently surprised at the number of people I know who have, to their mind, quite reasonably and naturally assumed that the city of my birth would have a Saint Patrick’s Day parade.

When your humble correspondent told them that no such civic event had ever occurred in the Dear Green Place, some of them did a double take.

In many ways, it is the only thing you need to know about that society and its attitude towards the Irish community there.

So, over a century later, since the infamous Church and Nation Committee report in 1923  put down in black and white their racist concerns about people like me and mine.

They made it quite clear on page two of the eugenicist document that they had no problem with Scottish Catholics. It was always about race, not about religion.

“The problem, therefore, that has been remitted to the Committee for consideration is almost exclusively an Irish problem;  and though recognition should be made  of a certain number of Poles in the coal-mining districts, the fact remains that this is a question arising out of the abnormal growth of the Irish race in Scotland.”

The Church of Scotland apologised for this report and the sentiments contained within it at the start of this millennium.

Yet the reportage in what purports to be Scotland’s paper of record couldn’t bring itself to use the “R” word to describe their reportage.

Instead, it was described as “sectarianism”.

Dear reader, denying the ethnicity of the community, which was the target of the 1923 report, is to continue the problem.

The multi-generational Irish community in Fair Caledonia are probably unique in the global diaspora.

That is because an organising principle of that society has been to actively deny the existence of the Irish in their midst.

Over a decade ago, when putting together Minority Reporter, my publisher asked me for a strapline.

Looking back, I’m reasonably satisfied that “bad attitude” seemed to sum it up.

That it took until 2025 for Glasgow to have a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade would suggest that it was an accurate observation of  that part of Britain.

It would be naive to think that this dark stain on a country that styles itself as welcoming and tolerant was been entirely expunged.

The Famine Song vibe remains a stubborn pathogen in modern Scotland.

Removing it will ultimately be a cleansing, cathartic process for a country that might one day take its place among the family of sovereign nations.

I’m sure that the parade next year in a city with a huge population of Irish descent will only grow and prosper.

A massive comhghairdeas to all concerned.

Have a great week!