Irish Emigration

With the implosion of the so called ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy in Ireland during 2008, emigration from the country commenced again on a big scale in 2009 ( involuntary emigration had virtually ceased), and is now exceeding 50,000 a year. The Irish have a long history of emigration, with about 10 million Irish-born people emigrating since the seventeenth century. The Irish diaspora is now around 70 million.

About a quarter million Ulster Presbyterians went to colonial America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and most of them settled in the southern Appalachian region. Some descendants of those Scotch-Irish, as they were later called, participated in the American Revolution (1775-’83) and later served in public offices including President of the United States, starting with the seventh incumbent of that position, Andrew Jackson, in 1829. There was also some emigration to Britain after the start of the Industrial Revolution in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

The next big wave of emigration from Ireland took place from the 1820s, chiefly to the United States of America (USA), but also with a significant number going to Britain. After the Napoleonic wars in 1815, a big influx of Irish emigration to the USA began, and by 1840, an estimated 300,000 had arrived in search of work. Irish emigration soared during the Great Famine in the country as people fled from hunger and disease, with about 2.1 million leaving Ireland between 1845 and 1855. The numbers emigrating to the USA soared to an estimated 1.7 million between 1840 and 1860, with about 300,000 going to Canada. There was high emigration from 1855 to 1920, when an estimated 4.5 million departed and the vast majority went to the USA. Emigration to the USA virtually ceased after 1929 as unemployment soared after the Wall Street Crash.

A fifth big wave occurred from the 1920s to the 1940s, when the chief destination was Britain. Another large exodus took place from an impoverished country during the 1950s, and by 1954 net emigration was exceeding 40,000 a year. A seventh wave took place during the 1980s, when many went to European countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands. However, the chief destinations for Irish emigrants over the years were Britain and the United States, but there are also large Irish settlements in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Argentina.

Those that left often had a stronger sense of their roots than many of those that remained. Strong bonds were maintained between those that left and their families at home.

These bonds and linkages in respect of one Irish parish were some of the many topics explored in my recent book, Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).

Just look for Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish by Bernard O’Hara.