Understanding migration in Ireland

When the history of Ireland will be told in 2073 the year 2023 will stand out as the year in which the Great Immigration Debate began – in a street riot and by a burning bus.  The rest is history continued.

The first casualty in any major conflict is the truth.  There are statistics, lies and damn lies.  Migration is no exception because it touches on our deepest sense of identity.

Questions of migration may invoke deep emotions of belonging, empathy as well as fear and even hatred.  In the struggle over resources, people and services we seek to find a way through the fog of untruths and half-truths.  The truth about migration is that it is an inevitable part of the human experience. We are, at some point in our own family history, the children of migrants. 

Migration entails change and sometimes resistance, and unfortunately as we know only too well from our own history, conquest. Most migration in recent times is other than forced conquest: it is the fruit of economic, political and social circumstances that entice or push people to move country or region.  It is also the fruit of economic circumstances that draw people to a country that has undergone rapid economic development in recent decades.  Consult the Irish who, over centuries, went in search of work and a new life in North America, Britain, Australia and other places. The Irish diaspora is wide and disperse. 

The Celtic Tiger marked the beginning of new phase in Irish history – the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants – many of them from Eastern Europe availing of the new freedoms and opportunities opened up by membership of the European Union as well as the extraordinary economic growth seen in Ireland from the mid-1990s onwards.  Migration was driven by relative economic opportunities and migration drove economic opportunities through its contribution to human capital and cultural diversity. Ireland is the better for all of this even if the planning of public services and the delivery of homes has fallen well short of what might be possible for a prosperous Northern European country.

Against this background I seek to address some of the most common myths, half-truths and downright lies circulating not only amongst the fringes of the political spectrum but even more widely among ordinary decent folk who may be swayed – at least a little bit – by the noise from the far right fringe.  The latter is indeed small and noisy but can have a disproportionate influence and impact among people suffering  disadvantage and the impacts of sustained public under-investment. In undertaking this work through a series of blogs on some of the most common myths about migration, I am conscious that most people are more likely swayed by personal stories and experiences than mere facts and statistics. I have no stories to relate here other than one which marked my life some years when immigrant staff came to my assistance in a hospital emergency department and saved my life!

However,  facts and statistics are important and deserve a hearing in a crowded and noisy debate. I will start with the first myth that Ireland is full or getting full.