The British forcefully invaded Ireland, attempted to genocide them multiple times, and even as recently as 1916 they were brutal in their efforts to shut down rebellion. They lost Ireland in a war in 1923, but kept Northern Ireland, where their efforts to make a British part of Ireland had mostly succeeded. From that point on the Irish Republican Army, or IRA, fought to take Northern Ireland back. They committed constant terrorist attacks on the UK, to the point where the British just accepted them as part of life, until 1993 when they agreed to a ceasefire. The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 officially ended the period known as the Troubles. By saying the British = evil and then "I'm Irish", it springs the IRA to mind I guess.