"NME" critic Bob Woffinden described "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" as "self-conscious, awkward" in the mould of "Lennon's least successful diatribes". He added that, although Lennon would soon "do far worse", McCartney's song "gave the appearance of being an exploitation single every bit as much as 'tribute' singles that are rushed out in the wake of the death of a star name". Writing in "Record Collector" in 2001, Peter Doggett said that McCartney's and Lennon's "ill-fated" musical statements on Irish politics, following on from the pair's public sparring in the music press throughout 1971, "combined to tarnish" the four ex-Beatles' standing among music critics in the UK and so contributed to an unjustly harsh critical reception there for George Harrison's 1973 album "Living in the Material World".