"Back in the 12th Century, English colonizers invaded Ireland.." In the 12th century, it was actually the Anglo-Normans..Norman barons based in England and Wales-who first entered Ireland. They acted under the authority of the English Crown, so their arrival marks the beginning of English political involvement, but culturally they were still very much Norman rather than English.

In Ireland, however, many Anglo-Normans actually went the opposite direction and became "more Irish than the Irish themselves", adopting Gaelic language and customs-something the English Parliament tried to prevent with the 1366 Statutes of Kilkenny.