‘Paddies are changing the world’: exhibition seeks to debunk Irish stereotypes

Paddy Hazelton: ‘Ireland has changed so much. And this debunks the stereotype of the hooligan in the bar.’ Photograph: Ross O'Callaghan

The quintessential Irish name is famous often for the wrong reasons. There are Paddy jokes, paddy wagons and “thick Paddies” – the latter a generic insult used against anyone from Ireland.

It seldom matters if an individual’s given name is Patrick, Pádraig, Pádraic or Pat – in the eyes of the world and fellow Irish people, that still makes him Paddy and an embodiment of Irishness.