On Emigration #1

In Ireland, "emigration" is pretty universally regarded as A Bad Thing. (Attitudes to immigration are more ambivalent).

This attitude is generally explained in terms of the 19th century experience. Following the catastrophic "Great Famine" in the mid-1840s, during which a million died - the pre-Famine population was about 8 million - millions left the country. At its lowest point, the island's inhabitants numbered about 4 million, and the population remains below 6 million.

To put some context on this, the population of the neighbouring island of Great Britain increased from 19 million to nearly 60 million over the same period, despite wars and not insignificant emigration of its own to "the Colonies"(yes - net immigration played a part too). Europe, despite The Holocaust and similar horrors, also trebled in population.

For me, someone who has lived in Ireland for over half a century, and thought that he was historically aware, just recalling these bare facts has taken me considerably aback. It is probably fair to say that for anyone attempting to understand the Irish, ignoring the Famine is as crass as ignoring the Holocaust when considering the Israelis.

Behind the Irish statistics lie a multitude of family separations, destruction of communities, economic stagnation and, generally, a "world of hurt".

Insofar as there is a collectively shared narrative of what emigration means, it is still stuck in that historical recollection.

I trust that it is clear that I have considerable sympathy for that on a sentimental level. However, although there is still some reality in it, I dissent from the national consensus which accepts it as a rational approach to the present. I will be elaborating here on this view of mine over the next while.

Update on Monday, June 6, 2011 at 10:19AM by Fergus O'Rourke

This entry and the succeeding two on Emigration have now been published as an article here, where there has been some interesting reaction.