Hell, why stop at Ireland? The English have been a pain in the rest of the world's butt ever since, oh, about the year 1200... ;-)

I say this as one who grew up in the British Commonwealth and greatly admired the British redcoats and Nelson's brave lads in their wooden ships...but I'm still aware that they were a plague upon their neighbours time and time again. One reason for that was simply that they were damn good at it!