Emigration issues and stories from the Irish diaspora. Members can contribute their own experiences and views
When I moved to Sydney on a working holiday visa more than 20 years ago, I had enough traveller’s cheques to pay for a week at a hostel in the edgy King’s Cross suburb. And I had two backup plans. In my pocket was a changeable return airline ticket home. In my head was the name of a rural town five hours away where my mother’s childhood friend lived.
In a disconnected world, I, like most backpackers in that era, was one wrong move, one robbed handbag or one broken limb away from a crisis. So, when I saw that the Government’s new diaspora strategy, released in recent weeks, contained a commitment to ensure Irish emigrants would be supported on arrival in a new country and people would get better information before they left Ireland, it resonated.
Moving country, by its nature, can leave people vulnerable. The key destinations may have shifted from generations past, with young people more likely to join their friend in Perth or Dubai than their auntie in Birmingham or Boston. Push factors have also changed from escaping poverty and social exclusion to seeking a better quality of life or career opportunities. And for many, the likelihood of eventually returning to live in Ireland is much higher (a third of Irish living abroad intend to one day return to Ireland, rising to more than half among younger cohorts, according to an online survey of 10,000 diaspora members for the strategy).
