Mark Falvey, an Irish-born Liverpool merchant, claimed that the ‘Irish herd together very much in this country. They live like a distinct colony, both parents and children.’ Since the area behind the docks was the first place the Irish encountered it was the obvious place to settle. The housing was near to the available jobs and cheaper to rent than more desirable properties in the suburbs. This was an important consideration in an age that lacked cheap public transport. The very idea of a home meant something different to the poor. The dwelling was merely a space for sleeping rather than for living in. A woman from the dockside slums justified the wretchedness of her home by pointing out that ‘her husband never came home, scarcely except to sleep, and it didn't matter much how they lived for the matter of that. He was near his work and whatever sort of house she kept he would be very little in it.’

If the poor wanted warmth and comfort they would find it in the brightly lit public houses. This is where they would meet with friends to listen to the latest gossip, keep informed about available work and seek financial and emotional support from fellow countrymen. The Irish poor were also tied to particular neighbourhoods by the need for credit from sympathetic shopkeepers and familiar landlords. Food was cheaper in the city-centre markets. Generation after generation would be brought up in the same areas. Although people would move constantly from street to street they never moved too far away from each other.