St Patrick's Day Special: Who Exactly Are The Irish Americans?

The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams

News & Politics

4.5 • 692 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On St. Patrick’s Day, we go beyond the parades and pints to ask: what does the Irish diaspora actually mean for Ireland today? From the Presbyterian migrants who helped shape revolutionary America, to the famine generation who built the unions, churches, police forces, and political machines of the great US cities, this episode traces the long economic story of Irish emigration and Irish America. However, this is also about the present, is there still such a thing as a coherent Irish America, or has it dissolved into the wider American mainstream? If the old bonds are fading, should Ireland be doing far more to reconnect with the tribe abroad? On a day when Ireland celebrates itself to the world, we ask what the diaspora gave us, what remains of that identity now, and how a small country might think much bigger about one of its greatest global assets.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Coming up with the podcast today, it is St. Patrick's Day. So happy St. Patrick's Day to you.
0:04.3	We are going to talk all about the Irish tribe, Irish diaspora, the people who are out there, who are Irish, the 35 million Irish Americans, the Irish in Australia, the Irish in the UK.
0:16.5	We welcome you all. Happy St. Patrick's Day, but it's going to be about the economics of the
0:21.1	diaspora. That's all coming up in a couple of minutes. We've got a fantastic offer for you
0:27.4	for St. Patrick's Day. Well, actually for St. Patrick's Week, it's a 30% discount on joining
0:34.0	the David MacWilliams podcast crew.
0:42.8	It'll cost you about the price of a pint and temple bar per month.
0:45.8	Now you get 30% off that.
0:48.7	And you can sign up at david macwilliams. I.e. forward slash crew.
0:50.9	You get ad-free listening.
0:52.9	You get early access to all our episodes. You join our
0:57.1	esteemed Q&A. You join our book club. You get free online monetary economics course. The course
1:05.7	I give in Trinity and you get first dibs on tickets for dokey, Kilkenomics and upcoming live podcasts.
1:13.6	What's Not to Love?
1:14.5	That is 30% off all this week,
1:17.2	St. Patrick's Week, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
1:20.7	And again, the address is,
1:23.3	Dave McWilliams.a.e. forward slash crew,
1:26.1	sign up and join the gang, and we will learn, talk about and analyze economics together to celebrate St. Patrick's Week.
1:37.2	To understand the economy, you have to understand human nature.
1:43.5	This podcast is powered by ACAST.
1:48.8	How you doing there?
	...

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