Some archaeologists believe that the Irish are of English and not Celtic descent
According to several modern archaeologists, it now seems unlikely that the Irish have Celtic roots.
In a statement that horrified Irish nationalists, Richard Warner, an archaeologist at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, told the Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations: "The average Irish person probably has more English genes than Celtic."
The history of Ireland's original inhabitants is steeped in mystery. In The Book of Invasions, written during the 11th century AD, it was recorded that the Fir Bolag (Bagmen) were a race of hairy, subhuman slaves, and the Tuatha de Danaan were godlike creatures who survived Christianity as fairies, leprechauns and banshees. However, historians say that wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries that the idea of common Celtic roots became fashionable and acted as a catalyst for Irish nationalism. Following independence in the 1920s, Irish children were brought up to believe that the Celts or Gaels settled in their country, becoming the predominant racial group by the 5th or 6th century.
Warner argues that archaeological evidence proves most Irish people are descended from Mesolithic hunters and fishermen, who arrived about 8,000 BC, possibly from Scotland. However, the English invaders exerted the next greatest influence. "In round terms", he told the Association, "the image of the Irish as genetically Celtic people, in fact the whole idea of Celtic ethnicity and of Celtic peoples, Irish, Welsh and all the rest of it, is a load of complete cock and bull."
It is known that the Celts came into their own around the 5th century BC. Although they were a distinct ethnic group throughout central Europe, they do not appear to have had any significant effect on the Irish gene pool. Warner believes that, "if you can find Celtic blood lines now, it will probably be among the Germans".
After prehistoric people settled in Ireland, leaders such as Brian Boru (born AD 941) established kingdoms. However, from 1170 the English started to arrive after Dermot McMurragh, the king of Leinster, invited Richard de Clare, an Anglo-Norman warlord, to assist him in settling a dynastic dispute. Additionally, the campaigns of Elizabeth I and Cromwell ensured that English tenants and former soldiers settled in Ireland.
Warner explained to the conference: "In terms of the ability to recognise present DNA values, the intrusion of English blood and southern Scottish would be larger than any other group apart from the original Mesolithic inhabitants." This was backed up by Professor Jim Mallory, an archaeologist and linguist from Queen's University in Belfast, who agreed that, "if you believe the Celtic languages spread late in prehistory, they were accompanied by minimal population movements. There is no evidence in the archaeological record for a large influx of a foreign population".
Warner hopes that his case will be proved when the Royal Irish Academy completes its genetic map of Ireland. Many thousands of DNA samples will be analysed and compared with genes taken from skeletons discovered by archaeologists.
Warner believes that it is sadly ironic that the Aran islands off Galway, where the population is partly descended from Cromwell's soldiers, is one the few places where it is still possible to hear the Irish language being spoken. "Aran is going to be the last bastion of spoken Irish," he asserts, "so the Irish language will die in the mouths of the English".
