I'M not a fan of Guinness, can't make head nor tail of Gaellic football and find the tin whistle one of the more annoying instruments. So it's fair to say my affinity to all things Irish has never been that strong. But all this has changed having fallen in love with an Irish girl - not least in the context of my birthday, which falls in March. In years gone by, my party in a pub was overshadowed by the hordes of drunken men decked in green knocking back the black stuff and discussing rugby. It became obvious that I couldn't beat it, so this year - buoyed by a girlfriend with a harp on her passport - I decided to join it, and then some. I was heading to New York, home to the largest population of Irish descendants in the USA.

The potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s saw thousands leave everything behind and head to the hope of a better life across the Atlantic. Throughout the famine years, 75 percent of the Irish coming to America landed in New York. The treatment upon their arrival was not what you would expect. Confused, fresh from their homeland and suffering from culture shock, were taken advantage of the moment they set foot on shore.

"Runners" speaking in Gaelic promised to help their fellow countrymen but banking on that trust, they would "recommend" good boarding houses that turned out to be filthy, vermin-infested hell-holes. Immediately upon arrival in New York harbour, they were met by Irishmen known as 'runners' speaking in Gaelic and promising to 'help' their fellow countrymen. Many of the new arrivals, quite frightened at the mere prospect of America, gladly accepted. Those who hesitated were usually bullied into submission. The runner's first con was to suggest a good place to stay in New York; a boarding house operated by a friend, supposedly with good meals and comfortable rooms at very affordable rates, including free storage of any luggage. The boarding houses were actually filthy hell-holes in lower Manhattan. Instead of comfortable rooms, the confused arrivals were shoved into vermin-infested hovels with eight or ten other unfortunate souls, at prices three or four times higher than what they had been told.

Oxford Mail: New York Story - The Jane hotel facade and lobby..

Thankfully we had no such problems with our accommodation, having continued the Irish theme with The Jane hotel. Nestled in the trendy Meatpacking district, with Chelsea and Greenwich Village a stone's throw away, the Jane's connection with Ireland is one of tragedy and humanity. Next to the Hudson River, the building was built in 1908 as the The American Seamon’s Friend Society Sailors’ Home and Institute.

Those thousands of Irish who, having filtered through Ellis Island and successfully made it to Manhattan, stumbled across the building, it might have seemed familiar given it was designed by William Boring, the same architect who built the famous immigration centre.

Originally built as a hotel for sailors, it was decked out with cabin-like rooms to make them feel more at ease while on dry land. And in 1912, the survivors of the Titanic stayed at the hotel until the end of the American Inquiry into the ship’s sinking. The surviving crew held a memorial service at the hotel four days after the ship sank.

The hotel has retained its grand foyer and ship shape (and indeed shipshape) rooms, while also keeping its connection with the past with bell hops and maids in traditional outfits.

Exploring the dockyard piers just a stone's throw away, it is not hard to imagine how the 650,000 Irish who arrived during the famine period must have felt. Many stayed crowded together close to the docks where they sought work as unskilled workers. They found cheap housing wherever they could, with many families living in musty cellars. New York experienced a high rate of infant mortality and a dramatic rise in crime as men and boys cooped-up in squalid shanties let off steam by drinking and getting in fights.

While the reputation for fighting remains in stereotype, the welcome the Irish get nowadays is far removed from those grim days more than 150 years ago

It seems the Irish are everywhere in Manhattan. "Spot the Irish bar" became a favourite game while walking between sights, as signs for Flannerys, O'Malleys and so many more besides await, normally in basement bars where the lack of light produces a sort of time warp effect where minutes soon become hours and it becomes impossible to tell whether it's 11am or 9pm - or maybe that's just the liquor kicking in.

Oxford Mail: New York - Irish celebrations on St Patrick's Day

But it is the annual St Patrick's Day parade that really shows the city's Irish pride. With New York the epitome of the big, brash reputation of America – businesses building skyscrapers ever closer to the Heavens – its no wonder its parade is equally grandiose.

While Boston can lay claim to the oldest – the city held its first St Patrick's Day parade in 1737, some 25 years before NYC – New York is definitely the largest.

Elsewhere those without a drop of Irish blood might have a Guinness or several on the day in a pub festooned in green, but nothing comes close to the sheer scale of festivities in NYC. The parade shuts down more than 30 blocks along Fifth Ave as hundreds March from 44th to 79th, cheered on by millions. At first glance, the parade is nothing more than a glorious excuse for the masses to skip school or work and get a bellyful of the black stuff. But stand in the throngs of people and you see mothers cheer on their children, pride bursting on their faces, as they sing or drum or twirl in the shadow of Macy's.

Oxford Mail: St Patrick's Day parade in New York

A policeman, resplendent in his best brass, breaks from the impeccably timed march to hug his wife and baby on the pavement. And in a post 9/11 New York, it was hard not to get swept up in emotion as hundreds of firemen, ladders and units that witnessed firsthand those horrific scenes, being cheered on as each one carried a Star-Spangled Banner. Cynics will argue it is rank patriotism of the sort that fires the right wing views espoused by Fox News and gun-toting, Islam-hating Democrats. But there is a love and a pride that shines through. It also shows that immigration can help form the foundation of a country, that cultures can be celebrated by those beyond its historic boundaries and that the city has a unity that has survived depression and disease, terror and hate.

And on a personal note, it can help bring an Englishman and an Irish woman plenty of happiness.

Rooms at The Jane start from $125 (£86) for a Bunk Bed Cabin with a communal bathroom or $250 (£172) for a Captain's Cabin with en suite, which come with a view of the Hudson River or a private terrace.