He was born in Northern Ireland, but only because his parents were stationed there at the time due to his father being an officer in the British Army.
His father was a New Zealander and his mother English. He's not Irish.
he was born there and lived there till he was 8 ..he still holds an irish passport and considers himself both a kiwi and irish ...sorry that isnt good enough for you
shareBeing Irish born, technically he is 'Irish', even though he has spent most of his growing up years in New Zealand and Australia. Doesn't matter what his parents are. We have a lot of refugees here in Australia that are deemed 'Australian' because they've taken up citizenship, but if you asked them their home country, they'd say the place where they're born, and it wouldn't matter how long they have been away from it.
sharePersonally I see nationality as a flawed, man-made concept so frankly if he wants to consider himself Irish then that's his prerogative and it shouldn't bother anyone else.
Everyone seems to have different opinions on the definition of nationality and national identity; personally I think nationality should be based on where you feel at home. That sounds cheesy but I base that on my own experience: my family is Scottish but I was born in England. My family is strongly nationalist and patriotic. Some people say I'm English because that's where I was born (this is the most common thing people say about me when the subject comes up), of course my parents have always drummed it home that I'm Scottish through and through.
As I've grown up I have not really felt accepted or part of my community or of Scotland in general. I moved to England to go to university and have felt so much more at home there than I ever did at "home" in Scotland. It still irks me to have people say "you're not Scottish, you're English because that's where you were born" because it's not up to anyone else to dictate my nationality to me, but I do consider myself to be English (to my parents' horror!).
Long story short: if Sam Neil considers himself to be Irish (or part Irish) that is his view and it holds more water than the view of someone who doesn't even know him personally. His national identity is his own and has been influenced by his life experiences, and it is not for anyone else to take it upon themselves to "correct" him if he considers himself to be Irish in any sense.
It's none of your business
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