Excuse me for being so sensitive.
My parents came to England from Ireland in the late 1950s. As a child I wasn't allowed to answer the phone. I didn't know why. It turns out we were plagued with abusive phone calls the most polite of which went along the lines of "Paddies go home".
At school, I was teased about being a thick bog-trotter (as it happens I was generally near the top of the class). At Birmingham airport I had to watch a couple of drunks swear at my grandfather and spit at him because he had an Irish accent.
Sure, Irish people used to tell 'Irish' jokes all the time, but it's all a bit old hat. Dave Allen, of course, made a living from it, but that was in an era when Charlie Williams earned a living telling nigger jokes.
Jackie has hit the nail on the head. The joke wouldn't be funny if it involved West Indian or Pakistani characters. Why, then, is it funny with Irish characters? Why do the characters have to be a particular nationality?
Like it or not, the joke is racist. It's not a question of petty political correctness, it's a question of me taking offence at a very old, very lame joke that reinforces the stereotype of the stupid Irishman. It's not OK to belittle people because of their race in a joke or in any other way.
I must admit I haven't heard or read an Irish "joke" in so long I thought they'd been consigned to history. It's very disappointing to find one on this site.
Apologies for going on and hijacking the thread, but this has hit a nerve.