A Three-Way Process

The overview of migration in Irish history as a three-stage process given in the previous chapter featured emigration more than immigration because over these 400 years it has been the dominant direction of flow. However, it is important to realise that the leavings, crossings and arrivals of Ireland’s emigrants, from Hugh O’Neill to Edna O’Brien, have been paralleled by those of its immigrants. Migration is not simply a one-directional process of movement between a sending society and a receiving society, but rather a two-directional process: few if any sending societies receive no return migrants or new immigrants — even in the worst year of the Great Famine, as we shall see in chapter 10, Ireland received some; and few receiving societies, such as France, send no emigrants. Additionally, in both predominantly sending societies and predominantly receiving societies, there is internal migration. While it is true that migrating within a country generally involves fewer practical difficulties and much less physical hardship and emotional intensity, internal migration differs from international migration in degree rather than in kind. Not only does it have the same three-stage structure and involve similar practical, physical and emotional challenges, internal migration also affects and is affected by both immigration and emigration. Therefore, if we are trying to view migration comprehensively, we need to see it not as a two-directional process but as a three-directional or three-way process of immigration, internal migration and emigration. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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