Have met one today, according to the owner it is a specific breed. It looks staffi but with longish hair anyone know ?
I thought it was a cross but fortunately didn't put my foot in it.

round here its an unregistered staffy thats long on the legs and got a bit of a look of pitbull about it./is part pitbull.

ditto

A crossbreed or a pitbull depending on who you ask

A loop hole in the Pit bull saga!!!!

Have to say the very term 'Irish Staffordshire Terrier' makes me laugh - bit like kissing the English Blarney Stone.

> very term 'Irish Staffordshire Terrier' makes me laugh

Lol... I thought it was just me ;-)

> very term 'Irish Staffordshire Terrier' makes me laugh

Lol... I thought it was just me 

me too thats why i didn't post, last time i heard a dog called Irish staffordshire terrier was at the midland game fair last year, i couldn't believe my eyes or ears lol. but then it was by a young irish sounding lad ;) ............

But have to add that this is a breed, just switching the country its from...lol..
http://www.akc.org/breeds/american_staffordshire_terrier/

To be more serious neither of these are Staffordshire Bull Terriers or anything like. I do not know about the American but the Irish is a designer breed developed some say to replace the pit bull or in some cases it is a pit bull in another name. I have no idea if these comments are correct I only know they are not pure bred Staffies. If people must breed designers or to fill a need no matter what that need may be please can you make up a new name and not pinch that belonging to an old established breed.

The Irish Staffordshire has been around a loooooooooong time, and was originally just that... bred in ireland and just as you will find say, a working cocker spaniel and a show bred cocker look v different (adn theres a fair amount of variation in the working cockers!), a difference appeared between the english show type staffies adn the irish, and then the irish 'working' type too.

Then along came a law makign pitbulls illegal and the irish name got used for those taller, leggier bull and terrier type dogs that fall foul of the laws. Some of them were really pitbulls, someof them no more pitbull than my Aunty Mary.

It doesnt automatically mean the dog is a pitbull, it doesnt automatically mean the dog has any irish heritage either - nine times out of ten it means the owner has had the wool pulled over their eyes and has paid over the odds for a xbred bull&terrier type mongrel.

The unfortunate part is - of course - regardless of whether the Irish Staff is a variety in its own right or not, it still comes under that "Type" and is therefore seizable under the DDA.

I think in this case  it may be a case of what the owner wants to think I would say this one looks more like a cross between a spaniel and a staff.
No sign of pit and similar height to staff.
Thanks peole i had thought irish staff may be something to kinda get round things. Oh well if the owners are happy  with irish staff thats fine by me.

Well explained theemx.