Dermot O’Leary has opened up about what it was like for him growing up in England to an Irish family.
The TV presenter was born and raised in Colchester in the UK, to parents from Wexford — with him previously speaking about how he chose to have an Irish passport over a British one.
Appearing on the Six O’Clock Show in Dublin on Thursday, Dermot opened up about growing up English (but Irish), saying that he’s always identified as Irish, even when he grew up in a Church of England school with English friends.
Dermot O’Leary has opened up about what it was like for him growing up in England to an Irish family. Pic: ITV/Thames/Syco/Burmiston/Shutterstock
‘It’s more of a big deal when you say over here [that you’re Irish],’ Dermot admitted to Brian and Katja. ‘When you’re in the UK, people just go: “yeah, he’s Irish over there,”‘ with Katja joking ‘you might get tested over here.’
‘I’ve had that all my life,’ Dermot added. ‘You’ve been around cousins who were — very good natured — beating me up for being English, until someone else calls me English and then they beat them up.’
While he admitted that being born to Irish parents in England isn’t the same as being born and reared in Ireland, Dermot said that growing up in England with a heavy Irish community is ‘a version’ of growing up on these shores.
The This Morning presenter grew up in Colchester to parents who were from Wexford. Pic: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Burberry
‘Where I grew up in England, there was a small Irish community, and we were very involved with them — it involved Mass and then the hotel bar where we’d go for lunch, and then back to ours where we’d listen to songs.
‘And then I’d go back to being a normal kid, going to a normal Church of England school, and shut the door and it’d be a bit like Ireland. And on the weekends, we’d go and see my auntie in London, and that’d involve watching my dad play hurling, and mass, and watching VHS musicals, and then my auntie would cook me a roast dinner.
‘And then we’d come back and it’d be a sort of normal… a lot of English Monday to Friday — [I’m] a child of two fathers, really. It was just always around, and my parents never forced me to feel Irish. I’ve had an Irish passport since dot… I always considered myself Irish, but probably not from Ireland, if that makes sense.’
Dermot said that he grew up around Irishness when he was a child. Pic: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock
Dermot previously spoke about his Irishness over the St Patrick’s Day weekend, revealing that he didn’t have a UK passport, but had an Irish passport.
‘I don’t have a British passport. That should answer [whether I’m Irish or not],’ Dermot told RTÉ at the Downing Street St Patrick’s Day reception. ‘It’s a very different way of being brought up Irish than over here [in the UK] or any second-generation identity has.
‘I always say that I’m Irish but I’m not from Ireland, which is a very unique way of being brought up with an identity,’ he continued. ‘It’s never been an issue for me. It’s never been a problem.
‘I’ve never felt anything else other than being Irish… not in a kind of “wrap myself in the flag and go to bed wearing it” way, but also not in a “you’re Irish but where are your family from” kind of way — I know my history, I know my family, I love the country, but I also love living here [in England]. I don’t see why those two can’t live quite happily next to each other.’
