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Rising above racist jibes
• “NO Irish need apply” – may I have a final word?
I was in total agreement with Peter Berresford Ellis’ critique of Enda Delaney’s The Irish in Post-War Britain (Review, August 13).
Enda Delaney was not part of the Irish diaspora. He was sheltered in the lofty air of academia.
The Irish response to the “Vacancies, no Irish need apply” placards hung outside shops, slum landlords’ premises and factories was thus:
“No Irish need apply”.
The hand that wrote it
wrote it well
For the same is writ
on the gates of hell,
“No Irish need apply!”
Believe me, we rose above the racists jibes, taunts and discrimination, got on with our work in hospitals, building sites and in domestic or catering service to build for ourselves a better life in what we considered England to be, the new Jerusalem.
Doris Daly
Barnsbury Square
N1
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