The Process of Migration and the Reinvention of Self: The Experiences of Returning Irish Emigrants

THE PROCESS OF MIGRATION AND THE REINVENTION OF SELF: THE EXPERIENCES OF RETURNING IRISH EMIGRANTS MARY P. CORCORAN Irish migration at the end of the twentieth century encompasses complex and multidimensional processes. Whereas Irish emigrants were once drawn almost exclusively from the agricultural and laborer classes, in the closing decades of the twentieth century emigration came to permeate the entire social system. Thus, Irish migrants are to be found not just among the ranks of skilled and semi-skilled labor, but also among the transnational professional élite that crisscrosses the globe. Current migration trends suggest a radical departure from the pattern that has characterized Irish demography for more than two centuries. Nowadays, more people are entering Ireland than leaving, bringing the country’s migratory profile more into line with its European partners. Indeed, Irish government agencies are currently engaged in campaigns to recruit non-national immigrants in key labor market niches and to attract Irish emigrants home. Furthermore , there has been a significant increase in the numbers of nonnationals seeking asylum in Ireland over the last ten years. The study of migration and its meaning in the context of the unprecedented buoyancy of the Irish economy directs us to new concerns about multiculturalism, immigration policy and practices, Ireland’s position in the global economy , and the relationship between the Irish diaspora and the homeland. This article is based on a set of qualitative interviews involving a crosssection of emigrants who left Ireland in the 1980s and returned in the 1990s. Particular attention is paid to their motivations for leaving and their experiences abroad in terms of professional and personal development . Analysis of the data reveals that these returners have been able to exercise considerable autonomy in terms of making decisions about their careers, and that in many instances they have used their time abroad to reinvent themselves in terms of their professional career trajectory. Yet, THE EXPERIENCES OF RETURNING IRISH EMIGRANTS 175 they are drawn back to Ireland in a quest for “community” and better “quality of life,” both of which have become more elusive in the fragmented and deeply individualized society that underpins the “Celtic Tiger.” EMIGRATION TRENDS AND RETURN MIGRATION In the sixty years after the foundation of the Irish State, Ireland on average lost 0.5 percent of its population annually through net emigration. In the 1950s, the emigration rate rose to 1.5 percent of the population, a rate of outflow that was previously surpassed only in the 1840s and 1880s.1 The post-1958 opening up of the Irish economy to foreign investment brought a significant increase in the growth rate and a rise in living standards. Average annual net emigration fell from 43,000 per annum between 1956 and 1961 to 16,000 between 1961 and 1966, and to 11,000 between 1966 and 1971. This corresponds to a drop from an annual gross emigration rate of 14.8 percent to 3.7 percent of the population.2 Between 1971 and 1979, Ireland for the first time experienced net immigration , reversing a two-centuries old trend. Arrivals exceeded departures by about 109,000 people, mainly due to Irish emigrants returning from Britain to take advantage of opportunities in the resurgent economy. But, significantly, net emigration from Ireland persisted even in this period in the 15 to 24 age group and among men in the 25 to 34 age group.3 That suggests that many newly created jobs went to returned emigrants who brought with them skills and experience, while Ireland’s youth continued to seek work abroad. The relative prosperity that marked the 1960s and 1970s in Ireland was short-lived and, by the mid-1980s, unemployment and emigration were both increasing. The annual average migratory outflow rose to nearly 34,000 between 1986 and 1990.4 As emigration began to rise inexorably in the 1980s, the focus of attention shifted away from returners and toward the burgeoning diasporic communities in the United States THE EXPERIENCES OF RETURNING IRISH EMIGRANTS 176 1 Brendan Walsh, “Emigration: An Economist’s Perspective,” Policy Paper PP88/3 (Dublin: University College Dublin Centre for Economic Research, 1988), 2. 2 J.J. Lee, Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and Society (Cambridge...