Are the Irish getting remembered?

[Ben]

I must admit, I am quite surprised by a few of the stated statistics on here ....
When I arrived in Liverpool (15ish years ago) I was greeted by many an Irish accent, and St Paddy's day here was like nowhere else in the UK.

That, coupled with a few of the (non statistical) books I have read a bit of about the history of Liverpool lead me to believe that the Irish contingent was quite large.

I've no reason to doubt the substantial contribution of other groups (the many Welsh built properties around where I live are significant evidence) ..... however, in the last 15 years I have accumulated several Irish friends, live next door to an Irishman and managed to meet a grand total of 0 Welsh people.

This isn't to deny any past contributions from others - purely my experiences to date, and possibly why I believed the Liverpool/Irish link was stronger than suggested by some (naming no names, Burnsey) on here.