My personal and unscientific observation from a good deal of travel in the past decade in Ireland, England, and Scotland, and from listening to a great number of songs and the commentary that goes with them from the singers, and sitting many hours talking with friends from various points across the pond, is that many English people like Ireland (when they see it) but are not eager to know Irish people, and many Irish people have no problem with English people but have a long-established antipathy toward England as a nation. Both of these views probably have historic roots, as many Irish were poor immigrant workers in England in the past (sometimes the very recent past, right up to Celtic Tiger days) but their homeland remains a beautiful place (and, sadly, possibly rendered more scenic to some by the reduction in population in the mid-19th century), and Ireland as a nation has seen England/Britain/UK as an empire-building invader over the centuries, but individuals have of necessity worked closely with English people.