ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to clarify thinking about Irish identity in order to inform consultancy practice as well as to open up a more general discussion about the way in which Irish identity may be used unconsciously in British institutions and society. Ireland was colonized by the British for eight hundred years until partition of the island and the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921. The Penal Laws had the impact of reducing the majority of Irish Catholics to an underclass, resulting in poverty and lack of education. One can see, therefore, where the stereotypes of laziness, stupidity, and the fighting Irish originate. To turn to the question of why Irish identity in Britain seems so difficult to look at, the paradoxes mentioned earlier offer a useful platform to explore the issues because they not only conceal but also potentially reveal something of what is being turned away from.
