Er what?? You're so far off base. I've lived in the Czech republic for 6 years, Finland for 3 years before that. I'm catholic and my family are Spanish on one s

Er what?? You're so far off base. I've lived in the Czech republic for 6 years, Finland for 3 years before that. I'm catholic and my family are Spanish on one side. On the other, well let's say if I was American I would call myself Irish American but I'm not Irish in fact. Ireland has its own culture and of course there's not the continuity with other EU states (Bavarian culture bleeds into Bohemian, the Nordic countries have their shared history, etc). You might argue that they have some cultural similarities with the Brits (but Irish people I know don't think much of that idea). The phenomenon you mention, US corporations using/abusing Irish tax law, is an assault on Irish people and culture not caused by them. To point to a specific example, Spain and Ireland recognised Palestine in a joint statement.