Mary Gilmartin - Ireland and Migration in the Twenty-First Century

Ireland and migration in the twenty-first century

Ireland and migration in the twenty-first century

MARY GILMARTIN

Manchester University Press

Copyright Mary Gilmartin 2015

The right of Mary Gilmartin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA

www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

ISBN 978 0 7190 9775 1

First published 2015

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Typeset in Sabon and Gill by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire

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I grew up in a place marked by migration, but my interest in the study of migration began when I returned to Ireland in 2003, after almost a decade of living elsewhere. This book is my attempt to make sense of the changes I have experienced since then. It is a work of slow scholarship, and it has been influenced, inspired and encouraged by many people whom I wish to acknowledge. I wrote the first draft of the book while on sabbatical in 2013. Thank you to Maynooth University and the Department of Geography for facilitating the sabbatical and to my hosts at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Gttingen, Germany for providing a hospitable and stimulating work environment.

Maynooth University continues to be a supportive place to work. Thanks to present and former colleagues in the Department of Geography and National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis Mark Boyle, Ronan Foley, Rob Kitchin, Ro Charlton, Sinad Kelly, Adrian Kavanagh, Steve McCarron, Conor Murphy, Shelagh Waddington, John Sweeney, Paddy Duffy, Proinnsias Breathnach, Dennis Pringle, Rory Hearne, Jennifer Lloyd-Hughes, Conor McCaffrey, Cian OCallaghan, Gill Scott, Bettina Stefanini, Chris van Egeraat for creating a pleasant work environment. Particular thanks to Neasa Hogan and Rebecca Boyle for infusing workdays with good sense and laughter, and to Kylie Jarrett and Anne OBrien for their critical friendship. I have also had the pleasure of working with outstanding postgraduate researchers on migration Angela Armen, Elaine Burroughs, Steven Lucas, Siobhan McPhee, Zo OReilly, ine Rickard and John Watters and I appreciate all they have taught me.

Before Maynooth, I had the good fortune of working with colleagues who have become friends and research collaborators. I am very grateful to both Bettina Migge and Allen White, with whom I have worked on a range of migration-related projects and who are always a pleasure to work with. Thanks also to Piaras Mac inr, Caitrona N Laoire, David Ralph, Bryan Fanning and Ronit Lentin for their commitment to collegiality in migration research. I also want to acknowledge the support of Eleonore Kofman and Parvati Raghuram (from Nottingham Trent University), and Niamh Moore, Arnold Horner, Willie Nolan, Stephen Hannon, Stephanie Halpin, Joe Brady and Anne Buttimer (from University College Dublin UCD). My time as a migrant began at the University of Kentucky, where I learned about friendship and geography from a diverse and wonderful group of people, especially Carole Gallaher, Susan Mains, Vincent Del Casino, Stephen Hanna, Owen Dwyer, Jamie Winders, John Paul Jones, Karl Raitz, Priya Rangan and Sue Roberts. Since then, my community of supportive geographers has extended to include Lawrence Berg, Jason Dittmer, Rob Wilton, David Conradson, Soren Larsen, Michael Brown, Divya Tolia-Kelly, Ayona Datta, Deirdre Conlon, Robina Mohammad, James Sidaway and Elaine Ho, so thank you for helping this book project in a variety of ways.

Across Maynooth University, I am grateful to friends and colleagues who have shared my interest in migration or who have provided necessary distractions: Caroline Ang, Chris Brunsdon, Martin Charlton, Mary Corcoran, na Crowley, Oona Frawley, Sinead Kennedy, Aphra Kerr, Kay MacKeogh, Rebecca King-ORiain, Aileen OCarroll, Stephen ONeill, Jeneen Naji, Stephanie Rains and Gavan Titley. Thanks to the Research Development Office, and to Bernard Mahon and Ray ONeill, for their support for research projects that I discuss in the book, and to the Irish Research Council and the Immigrant Council of Ireland for research funding. I would also like to thank Justin Gleeson and Aoife Dowling (AIRO), Ciarn Quinn and Padraic Stack (Maynooth University Library), Michelle Dalton, Jane Nolan, and Daniel Montes (UCD Library) and David Monahan for their help in sourcing and preparing illustrations, and staff at Manchester University Press for supporting the publication of the book.

Special thanks to family and friends who have lived with the idea of this book for a long time. In particular, thanks to Eoin OMahony for unflagging support and encouragement and entertainment, and to Gerald Mills, Maeve OConnell, Patrick OKeeffe and Breege Gilmartin for friendship beyond the call of duty. Im also grateful for the friendship of John Deignan, Paul Rouse, Gary Younge, Stephen and Ann Rigney, Claire and Kevin Hargaden, Laura Canning, Sheamus Sweeney, Dervila Layden, Nancy ODonnell, Kieran Rankin, Charles Travis and the Kates, and for the Monday night escape provided by Paula, Eileen and Gillian. Thank you to the extended Gilmartin, Cunningham and OMahony families (Kathleen, Ken, Karen, Ciara, ine, Aisling, Niall, Caoimhe, Ella, John, Neil, Brian, Angela, Felix) for providing regular reminders of life outside a book. I trust this meets ines instruction to write about something less boring. As with any book on migration, I am very aware of those who, in the words of poet Kevin MacNeil, are here and are not here. I hope the book does them justice.

Ireland is a place profoundly shaped by migration. In A Book of Migrations, her wonderful travel account, Rebecca Solnit uses Ireland as a site to reflect on the meaning of identity and place. She describes Ireland as a good place to think about it all because of its long history of migration, where tides of invasion, colonization, emigration, exile, nomadism and tourism have all shaped the country (Solnit : 158). Her book serves a similar purpose. It unsettles our sense of identity as being fixed in and to place, and shows how migration of people, things and ideas transforms places and identities in an ongoing way.

Solnits account of the complex and changing relationship between migration, place and identity is at odds with other, more official attempts to fix meaning. For example,