Comment
Birmingham Irish have come a long way
Something remarkable is happening in the heart of one of the largest Irish communities in Britain.
Starting to take shape is the first-ever official Irish Quarter to be built in any of this country’s major cities. The genesis and long drawn-out discussions that have led to this amazing project finally getting off the ground have been reported before within the pages of The Irish Post.
But as our feature this week shows, anyone visiting Birmingham today will find the city’s long-awaited new area is now more than just a collection of plans and dreams. Building work is under way and over the next few years a vibrant new community will be created in what was a relatively run-down part of Britain’s second city.
What makes this all the more remarkable is that just over 30 years ago being Irish in Birmingham was not something you shouted about.
On one of the darkest days for the Irish community in Britain, 14 people were killed and scores of others injured as the IRA targeted two packed Birmingham pubs.
The innocent included many first and second-generation Irish and the bombs that tore through the Tavern In The Town and the Mulberry Bush sent shockwaves across Britain. They also unleashed a tide of anti-Irish prejudice.
Irish men and women in Birmingham were shunned at their workplaces, once close friends turned their backs on them in the street and Irish organisations received a wave of threatening telephone calls and abusive letters. Many believed the reputation of the Irish community in Birmingham would never recover.
But as work continues on the new Birmingham Irish Quarter the buildings rising on the city’s skylines are living proof that it has. They are testament that the Irish are now central to the social and cultural life of this great city.
On the radio, Bob Brolly hosts an Irish programme that has become one of the top-rated shows in the region and a host of other presenters with Celtic roots draw in hundreds of thousands of listeners on various stations every week.
The once-abandoned St. Patrick’s Day Parade is now one of the biggest in the world drawing more than 130,000 people into the city centre every year.
To cap it all there is the success of the pioneering GAA In Schools project. Launched at Bishop Challoner School and now adopted as a model across the world it has seen thousands of children — many of them with little Irish connection — introduced to the joys of playing Gaelic football and hurling.
This remarkable renaissance is a tribute to the strength of the Irish community in Birmingham. It took many years of hard work and the dedication of many people.
But its achievement is something to be celebrated and reflects all that is good about the Irish in Britain today. Work on the city’s Irish Quarter has a long way to go — but when it is finished it will be a lasting monument to the strength of the Irish community in Birmingham. |
