Emigration from Ireland

The story of emigration from Ireland begins with a brief period of territorial expansion on the part of the Gaels in Ireland (then called Scoti). By the end of the third century AD they had established footholds in western Scotland and in south Wales. The settlement in Scotland was considerable (Dudley Edwards with Hourican 2005: 126f.): the kingdom of Dalriada included the transfer of Q-Celtic to Scotland and its establishment as the native language of the population of the western and northern parts of the country, later developing as a separate branch which still survives, albeit with greatly diminished numbers, as Scottish Gaelic. With the advent of Christianity the zeal of the Irish switched from being military to religious and the Irish Church in Scotland became an institution which in many respects stood on opposite ground to Rome. Once Gaelic expansion subsided, Irish colonial settlement faded and was never to be revived. After this the Irish no longer came to any foreign country as conquerors but as more or less welcome guests and many of their leaders left their mark on their host countries.

For at least the last 1,500 years the Irish have left Ireland to settle abroad more or less permanently. There have been two chief reasons for this. The first applied in the earliest period, between about 500 and 800 (Dudley Edwards with Hourican 2005: 128). This was to establish religious centres on the continent (Fowkes 1997) and thus strengthen the fledgling church there. The second type of emigration applies much later, to escape unfavourable circumstances in Ireland. The latter can in turn be broken down into at least four subtypes.