@240B
That's what I have always been told,also. They were supposedly survivors of the Spanish Armada that came north to attack the British,and were either sunken by the British or a big storm,and the survivors that swam ashore became the "Black Irish".
Which is pretty ironic when you understand the Celts all came to Ireland from northern Spain.
There were Celts all over Europe many centuries ago. That's why there is a Galicia (Gallic) province in Poland and one in Spain. Over the centuries the British Isles and the northern tip of France (Brittany) became their last strongholds.
I've heard the story about some Irish being descendants from the SA survivors, and after attending many Irish music festivals I've seen a few Irish merchants who fit the profile.
But in all my years of attending Catholic schools with a number of students of Irish ancestry, I never saw one dark-skinned Irish. They were all fair-skinned.
