Ireland and Migration in the Twenty-First Century

Migration is one of the key issues in Ireland today. The economic crisis has led to a dramatic increase in levels of emigration from the country, and this follows a period of mass immigration during the Celtic Tiger era. This book provides a new and original approach to understanding contemporary Irish migration. It shows that immigration and emigration are processes that need to be understood together rather than separately, and uses a wide range of data - from statistical reports to in-depth qualitative studies - to show these connections. The book makes the links between different forms of migration explicit through a focus on four key themes - work, social connections, culture and belonging - that are common to the experiences of immigrants, emigrants and internal migrants. It includes a wide selection of case studies, such as the global GAA, the campaign for emigrant voting, medical migration and how families are changed by migration. Ireland and migration in the twenty first century is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Irish migration. It also has broader relevance, as it suggests a new approach to the study of migration that addresses the concerns of leading scholars of migration.