OPINION:Despite availability of technology, a new era of emigration contains unique challenges
EMIGRANTS CARRY with them what we have come to know as a cultural identity. It can be a burden and a gift, depending on circumstances and context. One can become aware of one’s cultural identity when placed in a new environment.
Settling down, never mind emigrating, has unique challenges these days. There is an expectation that a person can occupy two spaces at the same time with ease.
Technology has us living in two time zones at any one point in time. But it can also inadvertently cause distress: you can wake up in the morning to a missed call from a friend overexcited as they relay how much “craic” you are missing at home.
When you are told not to worry about a sick parent, you can’t put it aside that easily anymore.
As we face a new phase of Irish emigration, people would be foolish to think that today’s more technology-literate, “sophisticated” generation won’t encounter problems.
Current waves of emigrants have more access to information about destination countries than past generations.
While preparation is very important for the new emigrant, no amount of research time spent on internet search engines can give the smells, tastes and hazards of a new land. Whatever about the personal struggles that the emigrant experiences, there is no doubt that external factors such as immigration policies can inhibit or enhance this struggle.
Policy regimes are much stricter than those that existed in the past. but people still take risks. They travel on holiday visas, overstay and become illegal. If caught, they are deported.
An inability to learn from the mistakes of past waves of emigration is in evidence in various ways. One group that comes to mind is the many Irish emigrants to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, who made very little provision for their later years.
Today many Irish working in the Middle East are there for as long as their work permits are valid. As soon as their employment comes to an end, they have no status and will have to leave the jurisdiction.
To where do they go? If the emigrant is Irish and has lived outside Ireland for a long number of years, it is most likely they have made no social welfare contributions in their country.
Despite these challenges, fans of globalisation advocate the benefits of living in two places in the world at the one time.
However, the ultimate question lurking behind the ups and downs of the migratory process is the question which asks: “to whom do I belong?” The answer to this question is not found in technology or policies but in the human heart.
An emigrant resource pack aimed at anyone leaving this year is available from catholicbishops.ie
Fr Alan Hilliard is director of the Irish Bishops’ Commission for Emigrants. His master’s in social science from UCD was on social cohesion, migration and integration