Abstract
The term “diaspora” is a contested one, notably as regards to the number of generations which should be included within any definition of a national community living outside its region of origin. Nonetheless, when measured in terms of its population, Ireland has one of the largest global diasporas and continues to be a country of substantial and ongoing emigration. In spite of this, Irish governmental diasporic engagement has been slow and partial. In part, this was because emigration from Ireland was seen as an unavoidable socio-economic phenomenon. Historically, state engagement took the form of indirect support for emigrant activities as well as some cultural and economic promotion. However, following a new wave of emigration in the 1980s, officially Ireland gradually conceded that a different relationship with the diaspora was needed. Work towards the formalisation of a comprehensive policy strategy has only come about within the past two decades and notably with the publication of two key policy documents, in 2015 and 2020. This chapter explores the nature of that recent outreach and argues that, while the economic crisis of 2008 was not in itself a “critical juncture” in homeland-diaspora relations, it did accelerate the pace and nature of Irish diasporic engagement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
A term referring to a period of rapid growth in the economy of the Republic of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the economic crash of 2008, characterised by high rates of inward investment and high rates of immigration and return migration by earlier generations of Irish emigrants, notably those who left in the depressed 1980s.
- 2.
A number of significant political figures in the battle for independence, including Eamon de Valera and James Connolly, were born into this Irish diaspora, while other Irish-born figures became significant political figures in their countries of adoption. For example, the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, has probably made more of his Irish ancestry than any American president since John F. Kennedy.
- 3.
- 4.
President Mary McAleese succeeded President Mary Robinson. Her successor is the current president of Ireland—Michael D. Higgins.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
Such assistance draws strongly on the work of an existing global network of voluntary organisations and charities, generally with a specific focus on particular topics such as welfare for the elderly (e.g. Irish Elderly Advice Network GB), Traveller issues (e.g. Traveller Movement GB), Irish citizens in prison abroad (e.g. Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas), mental health issues and issues affecting undocumented migrants.
- 9.
Ireland’s current Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora is Colm Brophy TD. He was appointed to this “junior ministry” in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Government of Ireland in July 2020.
- 10.
Ireland’s largest amateur sporting organisation, encompassing a number of indigenous games, principally Gaelic football and hurling.
- 11.
Research carried out by Mac Éinrí (1991) with Irish-born migrants in the Paris region explored this issue with a question on voting intentions in the event of the extension of the franchise. The data indicated that, while there would be some shift towards opposition parties and against the Government of the day (no surprise in a decade of hardship and high emigration), there would be no significant political dividend for Sinn Féin.
- 12.
This, despite the fact that emigrants lose the right to vote after 18 months.
- 13.
References
Adamson, F., & Demetriou, M. (2007). Remapping the boundaries of ‘state’ and ‘national identity’: Incorporating diaspora into IR theorizing. European Journal of International Relations, 13(4), 489–526.
Boyle, M., & Kavanagh, A. (2018). The Irish Government’s diaspora strategy: Towards a care agenda. In J. Devlin-Trew & M. Pierse (Eds.), Rethinking the Irish diaspora: After the gathering. Palgrave Macmillan.
Boyle, M., & Kitchin, R. (2013). Diaspora for development: In search of a new generation of diaspora strategies. In Y. Kuznetsov (Ed.), How can talent abroad induce development at home: Towards a pragmatic diaspora agenda (pp. 315–345). Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
Canagarajah, S., & Silberstein, S. (2012). Diaspora identities and language. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 11, 81–84.
Cauvet, P. (2011). Deterritorialisation, reterritorialization, nations and states: Irish nationalist discourses on nation and territory before and after the Good Friday Agreement. GeoJournal, 76, 77–91.
Cavounidis, J. (2016). The emigration of Greeks and diaspora engagement policies for economic development. Centre for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) Report no. 76. http://repository.kepe.gr/kepe/bitstream/20.500.12036/1407/1/KEPE_Reports_76.pdf
Collier, R. B., & Collier, D. (1991). Shaping the political arena: Critical junctures, the labour movement and regime dynamics in Latin America. Princeton University Press.
Daly, M. E. (2006). The slow failure: Population decline and independent Ireland, 1920–1973. University of Wisconsin Press.
Fernihough, A., & O’Grada, C. (2020). Across the sea to Ireland: Return Atlantic migration before the First World War. Queens University Centre for Economic History Working Paper Series 2019-08, 1–35. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3491676
Fitzgerald, J. (2014). Ireland’s recovery from crisis. CESifo Forum 2/2014 (June). https://www.esri.ie/system/files?file=media/file-uploads/2015-07/JACB201418.pdf
Fitzpatrick, D. (1980). Irish emigration in the later 19th century. Irish Historical Studies, 22(86), 126–143.
Gamlen, A. (2013). Creating and destroying diaspora strategies: New Zealand’s emigration policies re-examined. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 38, 238–253.
Glynn, I., Kelly, T., & MacEinri, P. (2013). Irish emigration in an age of austerity—Report on an Irish Research Council funded study of contemporary Irish emigration. https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/research/emigre/Emigration_in_an_Age_of_Austerity_Final.pdf
Government of Ireland. (2002). Report of the task force on policy regarding emigrants. https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/alldfawebsitemedia/ourrolesandpolicies/TaskForceReport.pdf
Government of Ireland. (2015). Global Irish: Ireland’s diaspora policy 2015. https://www.dfa.ie/media/globalirish/global-irish-irelands-diaspora-policy.pdf
Government of Ireland. (2020). Global Ireland: Ireland’s diaspora development strategy 2020–2025. https://www.dfa.ie/media/globalirish/Diaspora-Strategy-2020-English.pdf
Gray, B. (2012). Irish State diaspora engagement—The network state and diaspora netizen member: A case study in Irish diaspora engagement. Eire-Ireland, 47(1 and 2), 244–270.
Hickman, M. (2002). Locating the Irish diaspora. Journal of Irish Sociology, 11(2), 8–26.
Hickman, M. (2020). Diaspora policies, consular services and social protection for Irish citizens abroad. In J. M. LaFleur & D. Vintila (Eds.), Migration and social protection in Europe and beyond (Vol 2): Comparing consular services and diaspora policies (IMISCOE Research Series) (pp. 259–272). Springer Publishing.
Kennedy, L., Lyes, M., & Russell, M. (2014). Supporting the next generation of the Irish Diaspora: Report of a research project funded by the emigrant support programme, Department of foreign affairs and trade. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Ireland. Dublin.
Lulle, A., Coakley, L., & MacEinri, P. (2019). Overcoming crisis: Mobility capabilities and ‘stretching’ a migrant identity among young Irish in London and return migrants. International Migration, 58(1), 31–44.
Mac Éinrí, P. (1991). The Irish in Paris: An aberrant community? Geographical Society of Ireland Special Publications.
Mackle, D. (2018). Marriage equality North and South: The journey after the gathering. In J. Devlin-Trew & M. Pierse (Eds.), Rethinking the Irish diaspora: After the gathering. Palgrave Macmillan.
MacPherson, D. A., & Hickman, M. (2014). Women and Irish diaspora identities: Theories, concepts and new perspectives. Manchester University Press.
Mavroudi, E. (2020). Feeling Greek, speaking Greek: National identity and language negotiation among the Greek diaspora in Australia. Geoforum, 116, 130–139.
McGreevy, R. (2012, November 10). Gabriel Byrne and the Gathering ‘shakedown’. Irish Times.
Moutselos, M., & Mavrodi, G. (2020). Diaspora policies, consular services and social protection for Greek citizens abroad. In J. M. LaFleur & D. Vintila (Eds.), Migration and social protection in Europe and beyond (Vol 2): Comparing consular services and diaspora policies (IMISCOE Research Series) (pp. 227–243). Springer Publishing.
O’Leary, E., & Negra, D. (2016). Emigration, return migration and surprise homecoming in post-Celtic tiger Ireland. Irish Studies Review, 24(2), 127–141.
Ragazzi, F. (2014). A comparative analysis of diaspora policies. Political Geography, 41, 74–89.
Tian, Z., & Wu, J. (2016). Ireland’s diaspora strategies and economic development. Proceedings of the 2016 second international conference on social science in education (pp 562–564). Atlantis Press.
Walter, B., et al. (2002). A study of the existing sources of information and analysis about Irish emigrants and Irish communities abroad. Department of Foreign Affairs, 7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Coakley, L., Mac Éinrí, P. (2022). Ireland’s Homeland-Diaspora Engagement: Policy Responses to the Post-2008 Economic Crisis. In: Anastasakis, O., Pratsinakis, M., Kalantzi, F., Kamaras, A. (eds) Diaspora Engagement in Times of Severe Economic Crisis. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97443-5_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97443-5_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-97442-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-97443-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)