Why do you think they were pretending ? IrishAmericans gave a lot of funding to groups like the IRA . Irish nationalists always would go to America to get money from IrishAmericans or ask them to lobby for them in the US government . IrishAmericans are considered nonIrish by the Irish , until the Irish need their money . Reminds me of how Italians say ItalianAmericans are not Italian , until they want to steal things from ItalianAmerican culture and claim The Godfather and Frank Sinatra as their own . It ' s hilarious , like why are Italians claiming ItalianAmerican popculture and celebrities to be their own , and then turn around and say ItalianAmericans are not Italian ? Lmao . Italians will also take all the ItalianAmerican cusine and foods ItalianAmericans invented and adapted and say it is their own LOL . Italians and Irish need to make their minds up . They can ' t keep telling their diaspora they ' re not Irish or Italian while begging them for money and stealing their popculture , food and celebrities .