DA

This is a total tangent, but I find this topic interesting, so.

It's like the Irish came over thinking it would be temporary and no one's told their descendants that we should probably give up on that goal.

This is a really interesting point. Nicely put.

I am very sorry it makes Irish people uncomfortable.

It's not that it makes us uncomfortable. At least, not for me or people I know. It's that:

a) When we meet Americans, the invariably tell us about their Irish ancestry, if any. The truth is, we don't care, and it's very tiresome.

b) America seems to have almost taken over Irishness. There doesn't seem to be space in the American conception of Irishness for actual Irishness.

I'm all for people knowing their roots and their cultures, but it's all just a bit too much.