I never really paid it much attention to being Irish until I lived in England for 10 years. Despite the fact that I loved London, had a great time and they gave me a job for 10 years when Ireland couldn't, I was always conscious that I was some bit of an outsider and that it was not and would never be home.
Being Irish is a lot of things, a state of mind, it's the accent, the turn of phrase, Taytos, hurling, pride in the parish and county, green fields, saluting strangers on a country road, Crossaire, family, the Irish Mammy, the first question you ask an Irish person abroad is "where are you from" and then finding some connection to that place, a pint, local papers, getting sunburnt in 5 minutes, writers, music, and deep down, knowing that whatever we think of this crazy little island in the middle of the ocean and where-ever we go in the world, "home" means one thing.