Perceptions of emigration as permanent move are ‘outdated’ according to study

The perceptions of emigration as a permanent move abroad is outdated, according to new research into Irish and Polish migrants.

Learning from Poland: First Reflections followed the experiences of both Polish and Irish emigrants over the last 10 years.

The research, which will be presented at a conference in Trinity College Dublin today, found that both Polish and Irish emigrants are highly mobile and move back and forward a lot between their home countries and abroad.

Lead author Prof James Wickham said it was "astonishing" how the rhetoric of emigration from Ireland had not changed despite the evidence that many Irish emigrants return home.

“There is still a sense of which the idea of emigration as a permanent thing is still very present in a lot of political discussions and from community representatives,” he said.

“Nowadays, you can have an emigrants’ wake for someone and two years later they come back.”

He said their research is borne out by the figures which show 89,000 left Ireland last year, but 55,900 came to live in Ireland.

The Polish ambassador to Ireland Marcin Nawrot will launch a new book New Mobilities in Europe: Polish migration to Ireland post-2004 this evening at the offices of the European Commission.