any comment? altair?

Interesting article, St. Antao. In the USA people of both Irish and Portuguese ancestry celebrate their cultures in many ways....from social clubs to festivals and parades, etc. I would disagree with the author's (she must be a Brit) assertion that British Colonialism had little to do with Irish emigration from their homeland. Like in CV, it was colonial indifference during famines that was a major factor for leaving the Erin Isle. Throw in religious and political persecution as well as Irish being treated as third class citizens by the Crown and you have a formula for mass exodus and a long civil war which eventually resulted in Irish inependance in the early 20th century. My family came to the USA in the late 19th century to escape the famine.

Save for the religious and political persecution part...it does sound eirely familiar to colonial CV..... islands adjacent to major continents with a population mistreated and/or ignored by their colonialists who left in search of a better life.

Personally I have no problems with the Brits (snobbiness about their language notwithstanding)but there has been stories in my family passed down from generation to generation about the cruelty of colonial British to the Irish and there are still pockets of Irish in the USA who, for that reason, still detest them. To me...those evil people are a longtime dead so I can't condemn their children for what they did. But I am happy and proud that Ireland is an independant nation.