America for the Irish

Yesterday was St Patrick's Day. In Birmingham there's a large Irish community, so therefore, understandably, the celebrations are planned months in advance and are fairly big. I was in town last night and you couldn't move for big black and green Guinness hats.
The majority of the Birmingham Irish community were either born in Ireland or their parents were. So, they're Irish. However, if you're descended from someone who arrived in America from Ireland in 1852, you're not Irish. If your grandparents were born in America, you're not Irish. You're American.
To paraphrase Jack Osbourne, if you want to be Irish so much, why don't you move to a South Belfast council estate and see how great Ireland is.

(Incidently, my grandfather was born in County Cork (which is, in case you don't know, on the Southern coast of the Republic), and came to England during World War II (like, 1940). My father was born in England. I am English.)