Irish people in mainland Europe

Most of them live in France, Germany and Spain, with smaller numbers in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and historically Greater Russia.

[4][5] Thirty thousand Irish live in France; this number includes more than 15,000 in Paris.

[6] Irish presence in Germany dates back to the Middle Ages; by the turn of the 13th century, Irish Benedictines established monasteries in Regensburg, Würzburg, Constance, Erfurt and Nuremberg, and several priories.

The college's students helped preserve national traditions and the Irish language during the penal laws period.

[11] The leader of the Dutch agrarian party Farmer-Citizen Movement, Caroline van der Plas, is of maternal Irish descent.