GregB,

You have unearthed a point that is very relevant to me.

I am Irish, being born of Irish parents in Ireland and being brought up by them in a culturally Irish home with all the "normalities" of being in an Irish household ... In Hong Kong!

My family left Ireland to live in the seychelles for 2 years when I was a baby, where I spent the first two and a half years of my life.

We returned to Dublin for a year before heading off to Hong Kong, where I celebrated my 4th birthday and every subsequent birthday right up to my 17th.

I attended school there along with pupils of 35 - 40 different nationalities, but developed a very British colonial manner of speech as that was the character of the school (a very english comprehensive).

I am lucky to have been blessed with subtle hearing and as a consequence I am able to mimic fairly accurately most of the accents that I have the pleasure of hearing.

I can also mimic in accurate detail regional differences in Irish accents, be they belfast, donegal, dublin (north and south), cork, kerry, etc. etc. (not to mention English and a little scottish)

I find my accent changes naturally depending on who I talk to. I now live in Leicester in the UK and the same is true of the way I respond to the various different accents I encounter here.

Lately, I heard through the grapevine that a friend of mine had asked two Irish lads in Leicester if they knew me, what with me being Irish and everything. They acknowledged that they did, but stated that I wasn't really Irish but was more English as I had an English accent.

I intend to ask tem one day exactly what they think I'm supposed to be - chinese?.

When I was at school I was defined by my classmates as Irish in no uncertain terms, nor for that matter in necessarily pleasant terms (if you get my gist).

Who I am comes from my roots and they are a crucial part of my identity. My roots are not a matter of ancient history, but are in the conversation I had around the breakfast and dinner tables in my home throughout the entirety of my formative years.

Of course understanding who I am involves also understanding who my parents were - Thud - I am embedded in ireland, Irish history, culture, music etc.

I intend to ask them whether they view Oscar Wilde as having been Irish or not - something I am sure they will have no hesitation in confirming. This despite hm being as "english" as they come in his manners.

If Ewen McColl grew up in a Scottish home then that is all I need to hear. His soul, like oscar wildes and (dare I put myself in their company ... oh go on ...) mine, is born of his roots. He can neither escape them nor can he be denied them.

And for the record, when I sing Christy Moore songs I sound like Christy Moore - and the same goes for Luke Kelly etc etc. They just don't sound right otherwise.