The experience of the Irish in Argentina was qualitatively different from that of Australia, Britain, or the United States, and this study employs a comparative methodology both in relation to the more established Irish immigrant destinations, as well as to European immigration as a whole.

Against established destinations of nineteenth-century Irish settlement, Argentina was unique. Separated immediately from the native populace by language and culture, Irish immigrants were quickly identified by the governing Argentine hosts into the broader English-speaking community with ambivalent consequences for the Irish migrants.

The distinct socio-economic advantages experienced by 'Ingleses' within a particularly Euro-centric Argentina facilitated and encouraged the diminution of ethnic distinctions. But the conflicting identities which emerged contributed to the distinct development of the Irish community within this unique nineteenth-century Latin environment.