As a child growing up in Booterstown, south Dublin, I was vaguely aware my grandparents on my father’s side had been involved in the 1916 Rising. In fact, both were in the GPO that Easter Monday. As a result, in the 1950s when people called to the door selling poppies for Remembrance Day I can remember my father’s surprise that my maternal grandmother, who lived with us, bought one. It was only during Covid, when I researched my ancestry on my mother’s side, that I came to understand why.My grandmother who had bought the poppy, and three of her sisters, had nursed in a British military hospital in Bray, Co Wicklow, during the first World War. My mother’s father had been a British policeman in west Africa and one of his brothers died at Ypres. Indeed, 11 of my grandparents’ generation had served in some capacity during the war. Like most of today’s generation, I had blocked out knowledge of Ireland’s complicated history.My grandparents’ siblings ended up working and living across what was then the British Empire – England, Canada, South Africa, Gambia – and indeed the United States, an ex-colony. This has echoes today in where Irish people choose to settle abroad. Countries that inherited the English language from the days of empire remain a magnet. In 1911, a third of the Irish-born population lived abroad: 20 per cent in the US, 10 per cent in Britain and the rest spread across Australasia, Canada, India and other empire outposts, including five Irish people on Ascension island. From the early 19th century, emigrants tended to follow their uncles, aunts and siblings to particular destinations abroad. It was much easier to move to where family had gone before, establishing valuable networks. Today, 16 per cent of the Irish-born population live outside Ireland, half the share of a century ago, but there are echoes of the past in where they now live: 8 per cent in the UK, 3 per cent in the US and 2 per cent in Australasia. But Irish emigrant networks are now much less important in guiding the choice of destination. In the early 20th century, Irish emigrants were generally unskilled and faced a difficult time, at least in their initial years of living abroad. A limited number of emigrants did eventually return to Ireland. A study by Fernihough and Ó Gráda has looked at those families who came back from the US. They were generally slightly better educated than those who never left, but they had not substantially improved their circumstances by emigrating.Up to the early 1980s the majority of those who left Ireland had limited qualifications. However, over the course of the 1980s this changed, so that by 1990 most of those going had a high level of education. This has continued up to the present. Another big change compared to the past is that so many young people who emigrate today subsequently return to Ireland.The 2022 Census showed that 9 per cent of the Irish-born population living in Ireland were returned emigrants. When compared to the total number of Irish-born living abroad today, this suggests a return rate of more than 50 per cent. A slightly higher share of returnees are women, and 60 per cent of them have third-level qualifications. People tend to leave soon after graduating, spending up to 10 years abroad, generally returning in their early 30s.Thus, while in the late 1980s there had been a fear of a brain drain, the pattern of movement today is much more positive, with emigration generally proving to be temporary in nature. While those with good qualifications are generally successful working elsewhere, many eventually return, bringing enhanced skills and experience with them. This inflow thus benefits the wider economy.In the 19th century, many Irish served across the British Empire, in the British army, the colonial civil service and police forces, as missionaries or in business. Thus the 1911 Irish census records children born in India but living in Ireland after their parents returned home. In a reverse of this pattern, today we have a strong influx of highly skilled Indian immigrants, with the health service and IT sectors particular benefiting from their talents. More than 1,000 years ago, the Vikings came to Ireland and kidnapped people, primarily women, to bring them home.Today, through romance, Irish emigrants are also bringing home foreign-born spouses or partners to supplement our need for additional skilled workers. For example, a third of Irish married emigrants in Australia have Australian partners, and many may return to Ireland bringing a talented Aussie spouse in tow.