A very moving clip about Irish people being forced - through unemployment and a failing economy - to leave Ireland in the 1950s and move overseas for work. The vast majority moved to Great Britain, particularly in areas like London (such as Kilburn, Cricklewood and Hackney), Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow.
As a result of this, there are over 6 million people in Great Britain (10% of the population) with *at least* an Irish grandparent. Many within that number are 100% ethnically Irish, with two Irish immigrant parents - such as musicians
*Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis
*Morrissey and Johnny Marr of The Smiths
*John Lydon of The Sex Pistols
*Boy George of Culture Club
*Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners
*Shane MacGowan of The Pogues
*Gary 'Mani' Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream
Other notable people who are 100% ethnically Irish are
* Paul O'Grady, television presenter and comedian
* Steve Coogan, actor and comedian
* Dermot O'Leary - Television personality
* Martin McDonagh - Playwright and filmmaker
* Terry Eagleton - Academic and writer
* Jimmy Carr - Comedian and TV personality
* Caroline Aherne - Comedian and screenwriter
Many Irish immigrants in Great Britain were subject to discrimination, partly because of their religion - almost all were Roman Catholic, a religion whose followers the British Monarchy exclusively denies membership too, over Hindus and Muslim. It was also partly to do with a reputation the Irish had for revelry and lack of intelligence. Anti-Irish sentiment was particularly strong in the 1970s, when the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) and illegal undemocratically-sanctioned terrorist group - began exploding bombs in British cities, killing many civilians. This led many ordinary British people to assume all Irish people were sympathetic to the IRA, which they were not.
This clip is taken from the documentary series 'Seven Ages', which details the first seven decades since the birth of the Irish Free State in 1921. This footage features contributions from the likes of Presidential Candidate Michael D Higgin, former President Patrick Hillary, former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Garret FitzGerald.
Duration: 9min 56sec