It's one of the defining charisms of Scottish nationalism that it seeks to embrace the gifts bestowed by the people of other cultures and races. It wants to enable more of them to come here to work; to study and, perhaps, to make a life for themselves as new Scots. It’s a rebuke to the tides of xenophobia and racism that have disfigured political discourse south of the border.

Perhaps acknowledging that the death throes of extreme, hard-right conservatism are upon them, its chief proponents are seeking to leave their mark in one final paroxysm of racial cruelty: the Rwanda and small boats policies which disregard international norms of decency and the prison ships for those wretched souls who do manage to make it to the coast.

Each year Scotland celebrates the culture, tradition and language of many national and ethnic groupings. Last year we had the second Sufi Festival of Islamic Arts and Mysticism, along with many other events in Glasgow celebrating Middle-East culture. These, and many similar ethno-cultural festivals, enhance the experience of being Scottish. The Glasgow Mela, celebrating the traditions of the Indian sub-continent has become one of the cultural events of our year. There are Viking Festivals in Orkney and Largs..

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Yet, of all the cultures and nationalities which have helped make Scotland, none has contributed more than the Irish. Curiously though, we largely choose to ignore this.

As Glasgow began to develop into an industrial powerhouse in the 19th century, a skilled and hard-working labour force was required to build the heavy infrastructure that would underpin the new economy. Irish immigrants, many of them fleeing a famine whose catastrophic effects were fanned by the callousness of the British government, were crucial to Glasgow’s economic transition.

Yet, even before the Great Famine, the West of Scotland was a favoured destination for young Irishmen seeking a better rate of pay and standard of work, free from the brutalism they were encountering in Ireland. Unskilled and, in many cases lacking any formal education, they built the transport infrastructure – roads, bridges, docks and railways – that Scotland needed to support the industrial boom.

In recent times Scotland has tended to flog itself for the anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sectarianism that attached to this great diaspora. Yet, before the Great Famine swelled the numbers of Irish people coming here, Scotland – with the exception of the Kirk – was fairly relaxed about Irish immigration and Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

In an article for the Glasgow Times two years ago, the journalist and historian Hamish MacPherson cited a contemporary and oft-overlooked analysis of the Irish in Scotland at this time. This was typified by an editorial in the Glasgow Courier from 1830: “In our opinion, the Irish have as much right to come to this country to better their lives as the Scots and English have to go to Ireland or any other part of Britain for the same reason. Let us hear no more complaints about the influx of Irish having a bad effect on Scotland unless it is to do something about tackling the problems which caused the emigration.”

It was only later that the Irish in Scotland (perhaps because their sheer numbers were now considered a threat) became associated with social decay and the undermining of public morality. And why they were effectively ghettoised east of Glasgow city centre in some of the worst slum dwellings to be found anywhere in Europe.

Yet, they overcame these conditions to make important contributions in every sector of modern Scotland: politics, trade unionism; law, business, leisure and hospitality and sport. Ireland’s footprint is visible throughout Scotland and our country would be diminished without it.

The Catholic churches they built enhanced the architectural splendour of rural and urban Scotland. And when the state took Catholic schools under its educational canopy in 1921 it represented one of the most enlightened and progressive undertakings in the history of modern Scotland.

It signified a self-confident and optimistic country at ease with itself and the tribes and traditions gathered within its boundaries. The gold standard set by Catholic schools rebukes those groups in civic Scotland which still want to close them down for no other reason than that they simply can’t stand the thought of them. Yet, Scotland remains the only country where the Irish settled in numbers that doesn’t celebrate their distinctive historic cultural contribution with a St Patrick’s Day parade or a National Famine Memorial. The cowardice and political dishonesty of Glasgow City Council forced the city’s Irish community to commission one for itself. This now stands proudly within the gardens of St Mary’s Church in Glasgow’s Calton district.

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Willy Maley is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow and one of Scotland’s foremost literary critics and writers. He feels it’s now time for Scotland - and Glasgow in particular - formally to acknowledge the contribution of the Irish to the development of modern Scotland. In a recent paper, he’s proposed the establishment of an Irish History Month (towards marking Scotland’s Irish heritage in the month of March).

In making this proposal, Professor Maley draws comparisons with initial resistance to Black History Month in the US. He believes though, that any similar opposition to the idea of an Irish History Month must be cast aside.

“The Irish-Scottish connection,” he writes “deserves the kind of sustained attention and exploration that an Irish History Month would provide.” He adds: “It is time to take a closer look at a history that is integral to Scotland’s current cultural and political make-up but which is increasingly overlooked outside of academic study and specific Irish-interest organisations and institutions.”

The Professor suggests that Irish History Month would delve much more deeply and widely into Scotland’s Irish heritage. “Its purpose would be to educate and inform right across the board, and to be inclusive in its understanding of the ways in which Ireland has impacted upon Scotland and vice versa, including through language, labour, and sport, as well as showcasing the rich tradition of Scottish writing influenced by Ireland.

“Irish History Month would enhance understanding of a relationship too often viewed in terms of troubles and traditions rather than creativity and resilience. It would bring together a range of partner institutions and organisations in order to create a grassroots, ground-up organising body.”

Many of us who are directly descended from those who fled the Great Famine have never felt more comfortable in our Scottish skin. It’s time now for Scotland to show that it’s at ease with its unique Irish heritage. Professor Maley’s Irish History Month is an idea whose time has come.