I don’t think he was Irish. They way he was waving his hands around as he talked, I’d say he was Italian.
Lol.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
Joyce was born in 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin—about half a mile from his mother's birthplace in Terenure—into a middle-class family on the way down.
A brilliant student, he excelled at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's alcoholism and unpredictable finances. He went on to attend University College Dublin.