Well God Bless them too. Funny, like any of us get to choose our skin color, right? And yet so many are hung up on it. I was taught pretty much the same as you. Yeah, Ireland , big whoop. My people left there a long time ago and I was always told that I’m an American. And that’s what I am and will be till the day I die.
And my Scottish ancestors originally emigrated there from Ireland - then wound up passing back through Ireland on their way to America.
It's all very fascinating, and gives one a sense of belonging in the historical time stream, but that's it. None of it has any bearing on where, and who one is in the present lifetime.
I'm an American by birth, upbringing, and culture. I can honor my ancestors' origins, but I don't come from the same place they did. America is my only home.