The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

Ireland’s leading cricketer Ed Joyce joined a host of Irish sports stars recently — including golfer Padraig Harrington and jockey Kieren Fallon — for the 48th Texaco Sports Awards. Joyce played a crucial role in helping Ireland reach the final of the ICC Trophy in July and also qualify for the 2007 World Cup. The Ireland team went one better in October when they won the Inter-Continental Cup after a memorable victory over Kenya in Namibia.

Since Joyce’s county debut in 1999 the man from Bray has been an important part of Middlesex’s middle order and was the fastest batsman in the English County Championship to score 1,000 runs. A left-handed batsman he has been a consistent run scorer for Middlesex and was rewarded with the captaincy in June 2004. Apart from his contribution to Irish cricket he has been picked for England’s National Academy squad (effectively an England A team) for their winter programme and tour.

Joyce’s accolade comes at the end of a year which has seen the status and profile of the sport escalate in Ireland especially after their qualification for the World Cup in March 2007. It was also recently confirmed that Ireland’s inaugural one-day international against England on Tuesday June 13 will be staged at Stormont in Belfast. The game against the majority of Michael Vaughan’s victorious Ashes side, including Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, will be the biggest in the Irish Cricket Union’s 150-year history and the first occasion England will be turning out in their coloured clothing for an away one-day international in Europe.

However before that historic date Ireland will also be in the midst of one of their busiest ever seasons and should have played no fewer that eight one-day games against county opposition. All but one of their scheduled games will be in the new-look C & G Trophy along with their first defence of the Inter-Continental Cup.

Ireland’s 2006 Schedule:

C & G Trophy: April 23, Hampshire, Clontarf; April 30, Gloucestershire, Bristol; May 1, Glamorgan, Sophia Gardens; May 7, Essex, Chelmsford; May 14, Surrey, Stormont; May 28, Middlesex, Lords; May 29, Kent, Tunbridge Wells; June 11, Sussex, Clontarf; June 25, Somerset, Stormont.

Inter-Continental Cup: May 17, UAE, Clontarf.

The other Inter- Continental Cup game next summer is away to Scotland who also host the European Championships. All those games will take place in August.