Irish seen as gone from savage to sexy

Where once the Irish were perceived abroad as marauding savages, they now have a sex appeal of which even the Italians would be envious.

So a conference in Dublin heard yesterday where academics from both literary and political fields gathered to discuss the thorny issue of "Irishness".

More than 35 delegates are delivering papers at the two-day conference, which continues today at Trinity College Dublin - the sheer number of contributors illustrating the extent of disagreement over what it means to be Irish.

The bad news, according to at least one contributor, is that "Irishness" has taken on hues of intolerance that were unseen, and unforeseen, 10 years ago.

The good news is that no one seems to have noticed our hardened hearts - yet.

"In the American media now, being Irish and being sexy go hand in hand," according to Dr Ruth Barton of UCD's centre for film studies. "Being Celtic is associated with a soft-centred sexuality where before it was linked with lawlessness and rebellion."

She suggested, however, that the American love affair with Irishness may be short-lived, noting that some contemporary Celtic sex symbols had embraced "inauthenticity" to enhance their appeal.

In particular, she said, both Colin Farrell and Pierce Brosnan had adopted "false" accents, the former a "working class" brogue and the latter a "British theatre accent with the odd flat vowel sound to show that he is not British".

While the move had helped in their careers, it was not without its costs. Brosnan was now finding it difficult to "re-enter traditional Irish boundaries" or to be accepted in his home country as "Irish", claimed Dr Barton.

Maureen T Reddy, professor of English at Rhode Island College in America, warned of a "transatlantic circulation of racial codes" between Ireland and her home nation.

She said racism in America was "much worse" than in Ireland, "but I think Ireland had a chance to escape it altogether - and I think that chance is now blown".

Married to a black American, with extended family in Ireland, she noted her son was racially abused by a "white Irish girl" in Limerick during a visit to the city last year.

"You did not have to import our racism. We have a history of slavery that Ireland does not have.

"There was a period in the mid-1990s when a lot of people had this fantasy that it was going to be much better in Ireland than in the US or in England.

"Sadly, to a degree, England has started to face up to racism in a way that Ireland has not."

For further details on the event see:

www.affectingirishness.com