I am normally a bogle fan.

I looked for some kind of deeper Irony in these lyrics but it isn't there.

This is a song about a stereotype and it seems to be indulging that stereotype without questioning its accuracy.

I don't think we would make such allowances for other stereotypes.

I wouldn't.


But something else bugs me about this song ...

... its writer is australian.

Is he trying to identify with the Irish and claim that he represents the Irish viewpoint' better than plastic paddies do?

This isn't his song to sing.

Which leads very smoothly onto my next point.

The only time I have ever heard anyone talk about 'plastic paddy's' has been when I was outside Ireland.

I am Irish through and through. I was born in the Combe in Dublin, I am close to my cousins and aunts and uncles and i love the songs, the football team, the rugby team, Grafton street at christmas etc etc etc

I have the same accent as that other great Irishman Oscar Wilde.

When I lived in Ireland, no one questioned my identity. i never hard the ohrase 'plastic addy' used and when arguments got hairy no one asked me to mind my own business as there was no doubt in anyones mind about my authenticity.

In England however, I have encountered such attitudes, from both Irish expats and from right on English folk.

When I hear it it upsets me.

When I was at school in Hong Kong, I was the only Irish guy in my class, and i was reminded of it daily.

My class mates defined me as 'Irish' in a way that suggested that to be Irish was something to be ashamed of.

As I got older I learned it was in fact something to be proud of, but iin the process I earned my 'Irish' credentials through and through.

Isn't that absurd?

the idea that I should have to earn my own identity?

What a load of rubbish!

There is noone on this planet who has the right to question who I am and if they do they can expect a bloody nose for their troubles.

I had a conversation a couple of years back with someone who suggested that its about where you live not where you come from.

He assumed rightly from my accent that I hadn't grown up in Ireland.

But he assumed wrongly that I had grown up in England.

I asked him "If I'm not Irish what am I?" and he responded "you're English". I asked him why and he said "because you're from england"

I informed him that I had in fact grown up in Hong Kong and didn't come to England till I was 18.

I then asked him "So am I chinese?"


So you see folks, nothing is as simple as we would like it to be.

I'm not Chinese - and I'm definitely not English.

I am Irish.


The term "plastic paddy", used commonly outside Ireland, by Englishmen and Australians with no authority to comment, is responsible for the fact that I have felt I had to write this post.



The fact that I have had to write this is evidence of the fact that the term 'plastic paddy' is indeed offensive.

Why the fuck should I have to justify myself to every stranger with a shallow opinion about my nationality and Identity?

Bollocks to that.

And I've never sung Danny boy before, but I might start now.

It would go down great with all the aunties and their friends from Dublin down to tralee who LOVE it and have always asked me to sing it whenever a guitar has come out.

Are they plastic paddies too?