‘Making My Dad Proud’ : Mary’s Story.

One of my reasons for getting an Irish passport was to make my dad proud.
Dad was born on Ring, County Waterford. the smallest Gaeltacht area in Ireland. He was the only one of his siblings to leave and work in England. He couldn’t and wasn’t allowed to speak English until he learnt it aged nine.
We were brought up as Irish although we lived in London. Dad never taught us how to speak Gaelic although he taught Gaelic at night school to people who wanted to return to Ireland; he was a great Seanos singer, winning medals at the Oireachtas na Gaeilge.
My Irishness is ingrained in every song, every tale told out loud. I think Dad would be proud that his English, ‘born in London’ daughters still retained that sense of Irishness through the music, dance and history of Ireland. And that they were able to become Irish citizens! Also my DNA is 97% Irish!