For several years a major goal of national planning in Ireland has been to reduce or curb emigration. High levels of emigration in the past were a clear indication of the failure of the national economy to provide a sufficient

number of jobs for the workforce. Since the overriding concern has been with emigration little attention has been directed towards immigration into Ireland. Until recently little was known about the volume of immigration or the spatial distribution or the demographic and socio-economic attributes of the immigrants. However, since the publication in 1978 of Volume XI of the 1971 census of population some detailed analyses of immigration can now be made. In part I of that volume the residents of each county are classified by their place of residence twelve months previously, while in part II they are classified by their place of birth. This paper, which is based on some of the contents of that  volume, attempts to highlight the main trends in immigration. The first part of the paper examines the volume, origins and destinations of immigrants up to 1971. The second part investigates in greater detail the principal demographic, educational and occupational attributes of

the immigrants over the twelve months prior to April 1971

Walsh, Jim

English

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Immigration to the Republic of Ireland, 1946-71

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104 CHANGING IRELANDundisciplined, and continuous enforcement with heavy penalties would seemnecessary to produce any restraint. Similarly, restraint on private transportwithout improving mass transit would seem counterproductive, and C.I.E.'srecent record is not encouraging. It has also been suggested that a down-stream crossing of the Lee is needed immediately rather than in 10-15 yearstime, since traffic is necessarily channelled through the central area withoutit. Finally, L.U.T.S. is premised on government commitments for finance,transport improvements, and phased harbour developments, and thestructural shifts of the city's economy are contingent on decentralisationfrom Dublin. These may make the implementation of L.U.T.S. very difficultindeed, but the published study is still the most imaginative and advancedstrategic plan for an Irish city to date.K. HOURIHAN,University College, CorkREFERENCESB.K.S. Consultative Technical Services Ltd., Cork traffic study report and recom-mendations, Cork, 1968.Dovell, P., An environmental study of Cork, Cork, 1971.National Economic and Social Council, Population and employment projections ig86:a reassessment, Report No. 35, Dublin, 1977.Skidmore, Ovvings and Merrill et al., Cork land useltransportation plan, Cork, 1978.IMMIGRATION TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1946-71For several years a major goal of national planning in Ireland has been toreduce or curb emigration. High levels of emigration in the past were aclear indication of the failure of the national economy to provide a sufficientnumber of jobs for the workforce. Since the overriding concern has beenwith emigration little attention has been directed towards immigration intoIreland. Until recently little was known about the volume of immigration orthe spatial distribution or the demographic and socio-economic attributesof the immigrants. However, since the publication in 1978 of Volume XIof the 1971 census of population some detailed analyses of immigration cannow be made. In part I of that volume the residents of each county areclassified by their place of residence twelve months previously, while in partII they are classified by their place of birth. This paper, which is based on someof the contents of that volume, attempts to highlight the main trends inimmigration. The first part of the paper examines the volume, origins anddestinations of immigrants up to 1971. The second part investigates in greaterdetail the principal demographic, educational and occupational attributes ofthe immigrants over the twelve months prior to April 1971.Immigration up to 1971In 1971 one out of every twenty-two people residing in the Republic ofCHANGING IRELAND 105Ireland had been born outside the state. Eighty per cent of the immigrantswere from the U.K. Of the remainder 4% were born in mainland Europe,8% in the U.S.A. and 8% elsewhere. This has been the general pattern sinceat least 1946 (Table 1).TABLE 1ORIGIN OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND,1946-71(Percentages shown in brackets)England OtherYear N. Ireland and Wales Scotland U.S.A. countries1946 33.498(33-88) 39,289 (39-73) 10,155(10.27) 8,509 (8.61) 7,426 (7.51)1961 27,129(27.42) 45,463(45-94) 8,333 (8.42) 6,447 (6.51) 11,579(11.70)1971 26,183(19.07) 75.189(54.76) 8,849 (6.44) 11,145 (8.12) 15,930(11.60)Source: 1971 Census of Population, Vol. XI, Part II, Table 3.A number of trends are apparent from this table. By 1961 there were 98,951immigrants in the country. This represented an absolute increase of only 74over the figure for 1946. However, this marginal increase is significant whenviewed in relation to the decline of almost 137,000 in the total populationover the same period. The distribution by origin changed between 1946 and1961, though not significantly. The proportion from Northern Irelanddeclined by six per cent while the percentage from England and Walesincreased by a similar amount. The number of American born immigrantsdeclined by over 2,000 so that for every four American born immigrants in1946 there were only three in 1961.Between 1961 and 1971 the total population of the country grew by almost160,000. The number of immigrants in the country increased by 38,400 overthe same period. By the end of the decade over 11,000 immigrants werearriving per annum. This number was augmented by a further 13,500 return. migrants. Return migrants were people who were born in Ireland but livingoutside the state for some time prior to April 1970. Some of the trends thatemerged in the 1950s continued into the 1960s. By 1971 the proportionatedistribution of immigrants by birthplace was significantly different from the1946 distribution. The number of immigrants from Northern Ireland declin-ed further while the number from England and Wales increased by almosttwo-thirds. There was also a substantial increase in the number from theU.S.A.The distribution of immigrants up to 1971 corresponded very closely withthe spatial distribution of the total population as shown by a Spearman rankcorrelation coefficient of 0.74 between the percentage of the total populationand the total immigrant group in each county. Above average concentrationsof immigrants occurred in Dublin, Wicklow, Donegal, Louth and Monaghanin both 1946 and 1971. However, this was less marked in the last two countiesio6 CHANGING IRELANDin. 1971,which can probably be explained by the overall decline in the numberof immigrants from Northern Ireland. The concentration in the east regionis obviously due to the role of Dublin as capital city and main point of entryfor most immigrants to the state.The distribution pattern of the 1970/71 immigrants was characterised byan overconcentration in the east region and also in the western counties ofClare and Galway. The latter development must be due in part to regionalplanning policies. The industrial developments promoted by Shannon FreeAirport Development Company, Gaeltarra Eireann and the IndustrialDevelopment Authority have resulted in the creation of job opportunitiesfor both foreign industrialists and return migrants in areas where employmentwas previously unobtainable.The immigrants showed a definite preference for urban areas. Fifty-oneper cent of them chose to reside in settlements with more than 3,000 in-habitants. This figure can be compared with 55% for intercounty migrantsand 45% for the total population. In fact there were some immigrants inevery town with more than 1,500 inhabitants. The importance of urbanareas is obviously related to employment opportunities and the provision ofhousing.The 1970/71 immigrantsA total of 11,362 immigrants came to the Republic of Ireland in the twelvemonths prior to mid-April 1971. This number was augmented by almost13,500 return migrants, giving a total immigration of almost 25,000 people.These people made a very significant contribution to the change in the totalpopulation in 1970/71. Were it not for immigration the total population wouldhave declined by about 5,000, while instead a net increase of approximately20,000 was recorded.In Table 2 the principal demographic characteristics of the immigrantsare compared with those of the 1970 resident population.TABLE 2RELATIVE DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS AND 1970 RESIDENTSBY AGE AND SEXAge Group1—14 yrs15—1920—2425—3435—4445—6465 +1970 ResidentsM15-24%4-733.725-545-1910.565.22F14.60%4.513-515-395.1810.416.20TotalM13-93%2.216.6413.426.324.901.97F13.64%2-749-4312.804-955.042.00ImmigrantsIrishM3-50°/1.668.5818.348.395-992.84BornF3-40%2-3311.8117.266.446.542.92Non Irish BornM26.34%2.864-337-573-873-590.96F25.83%3-226.627-493-173.240.91Total 50.20 49.80 49.40 50.60 49.30 50.70 49.52 50.48Note: In this and subsequent tables 'Irish born' refers to people who were born inthe Republic of Ireland.Source: 1971 Census of Population, Vol. XI, Part 1, Table 7.CHANGING IRELAND 107There were slightly more females than males in the immigrant population,while the converse was true of the usual residents. Thus the effect of immi-gration was to improve marginally (by 0.0007%) the sex ratio in the totalpopulation. This was particularly true in the 35-44 age group.As might be expected the age structure of the immigrants was substantiallydifferent from that of the rest of the population. On the one hand over 42%of the immigrants were 20-34 years of age while this was true of only 18%of the usually resident population. On the other over 32% of the 1970residents were over 45 compared to 14% of the immigrants. The greaterproportion of younger people arises because of their greater adaptability tonew environments and because of their weaker bonds with their localcommunities.There were substantial differences in age structure between the Irish bornand non-Irish born immigrants. Over half the non-Irish born immigrantswere under fourteen years of age compared with about 7% of the returnmigrants. Allied with this were differences in marriage rates. Over 56%of the return migrants were married compared with 30% of the remainderof the immigrant group. From these differences one may infer that a largenumber of the non-Irish born immigrants were in fact the children of returnmigrants. An estimate of 32% can be obtained if one assumes that the ratioof children to adults was the same for both groups. A final point worth notingabout the age structure of immigrants is that 988 of them were over 65 yearsof age. Almost 80% of them had been born in Ireland and were clearlyreturning for their retirement.In many migration studies great emphasis has been put on the role ofeducation as a selection factor. In Table 3 the 1970 residents aged fourteenyears and over and the immigrants of similar age are classified by highestlevel of educational establishment attended.TABLE 3RELATIVE DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS AND 1970 RESIDENTSAGED FOURTEEN YEARS AND OVER BY HIGHEST LEVEL OFEDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT ATTENDEDLevel ofeducationalestablishmentPrimarySecondaryVocationalSec. & Voc.University etc.At school1970 ResidentsM60.18%13-969.193.164.489.03F56.59%18.577-755-453.028.62TotalM41.82%19-5910.075-3716.766.38F36.84%29.608.299.18rr.oo5.09ImmigrantsIrish BornM50.15°/17.8611.784.8313.052.33F, 42.06%28.889.918.988.042.12Non Irish BornM22.69°A23.586.136.6125.2815.70F25-23%31.194.679.6217.5811.70Source: 1971 Census of Population, Vol. XI, Part 1, Table 12.ioS CHANGING IRELANDAmong the usually resident male population 60% had only primaryeducation,26% second level and 4.5% had attended some third level institution. Thesituation was not very different among the female population. However,among the immigrant population there was a substantially smaller proportionwith only primary education and larger proportions who had attended eithersecond or third level institutions. The contrast was most marked among themale population where almost 17% of the immigrants had attended a thirdlevel institution while this was true of only 4.5% of the 1970 residents. Thus,in general, the immigrants had achieved a considerably higher standard ofeducation than the usually resident population. This was most apparentamong the non-Irish born immigrants (Table 3). Of course, these differencesare partly due to the age structure of the immigrants.Migration is selective not only according to age and education levels butalso according to occupation. An analysis of the occupations of migrantsgives some idea of their potential contribution to the region into which theymove. In Table 4 the immigrants of both sexes are classified by occupationgroupings. For comparison a similar classification of the 1970 residentpopulation is included.TABLE 4RELATIVE DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS AND 1970 RESIDENTSAGED FOURTEEN AND OVER BY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPSOccupationalGroup123456789% Gainfullyoccupied1970 ResidentsM32.10%22.4210.598.668.848.803.606.073.4279.24F8.96%15.660.284.1223-4312.5317.5216.868.8927.07TotalM8.74%27.5812.616.674.038.825.7818.267-4985.14F2.64%6.54O.II1-5720.136.5217.8243-511.1437.70ImmigrantsIrishM10.27%28.9716.007.604.058.93.4.9220.514.9688.96BornF2.56%6.860.121.7419.796.6216.5244-721.063946Non Irish BornM4-65%23.863-534.213-978.528.0828.9014.2876.342.87%5-74—1.1321.006.2521.2140.371-3333-78Source: 1971 Census of Population, Vol. XI, Part 1, Table 9.Key to occupational groups: 1. agricultural workers ; 2. producers, makers andrepairers; 3. labourers; 4. transport and communications workers; 5. clerical workers;6. commerce, insurance, finance; 7. service workers; 8. professional and technicalworkers; 9. others.CHANGING IRELAND 109A number of points emerge from an examination of Table 4. Firstly, theparticipation rates for both sexes among the immigrants were higher, especial-ly among the return migrants. The lower participation rates among non-Irish born immigrants are due to a number of factors, including the fact thata considerably larger percentage of them were still at school (Table 3).Nevertheless, over 11,000 of the immigrants were gainfully occupied by thetime of the census. This figure assumes some importance when one considersthat the increase in total employment in the country in 1970/71 was only2,000.Secondly, as to be expected the proportion of the immigrants involved inagriculture was considerably smaller than among the usually resident popula-tion. Again, this was particularly the case among the non-Irish bornimmigrants.Thirdly, smaller percentages of the immigrant workers were involved intransport, communication and clerical activities. Conversely, a greaterpercentage of the immigrants were involved in professional or serviceactivities. Thirty-four per cent of the usually resident females were involvedin service or professional activities. The greatest contrast with respect to themale population was between the usually resident and non-Irish bornimmigrants, approximately 37% of the latter being involved in service orprofessional activities, compared with 10% of the usually resident population.Finally, there are two other aspects of Table 4 worth noting. The first isthe contrast between the percentage of Irish born and non-Irish born maleimmigrants classified as labourers. The high percentage (16%) among theIrish born immigrants would seem to suggest the return of labourers fromBritain and America to take up employment in grant-aided manufacturingindustry in this country. The second striking figure in Table 4 is the fact thatover two-fifths of the gainfully occupied females were engaged in some pro-fession. There is no detailed information available on the occupations ofthese professionals. However, it is possible that a large number of them werenurses returning after being trained in Britain.To conclude the paper the immigrants to Dublin and Cork are contrastedwith those to the remainder of the country (Table 5).TABLE 5REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS AND RESIDENTSBY SELECTED CHARACTERISTICSCharacteristicAge group 0-19Age group 20-34Primary educationThird level educationProfessional occupationClerical occupationLabourerAll immigrants30.7737.2023.6148.7745.1457-6521.1032.74Dublin% 29.35%33-9023.9140.6939-0455-6328.9828.56CorkPercentage in each region* 12.63%ro.io10.7210.4410.608.689-7711.32n.63%*11.9011.47II.5011.289.8111.5011.85Remainder56.60%52.7065.6740.7944.2633-6669.1355-9459-02%*54.264.6247.8149.6834.5659-5259-59Source: 1971 Census of Population, Vol. XI, Part I.* Figures in these columns refer to the 1970 residents.n o CHANGING IRELANDFrom this table it is clear that there is considerable variation in the character-istics of the immigrants to different parts of the country. As might be expect-ed Dublin proved particularly attractive to immigrants aged between twentyand thirty-four and to those who had gained a third-level education andwere employed as professionals or technical workers. Conversely, Dublindid not attract as many labourers or unskilled workers as might be expectedfrom an examination of the occupations of workers residing in Dublin in1970. In contrast to the situation in Dublin the proportions of the immigrantsand 1970 residents with particular characteristics corresponded very closelyin Cork. As a consequence of the attraction of Dublin smaller proportionsof the immigrants than the usual residents of the remainder of the countryhad attended a third-level educational establishment or were employed asprofessionals or technical workers, while a larger proportion of the immi-grants were classified as labourers or unskilled.ConclusionsA number of conclusions can be drawn from the trends described above.The principal ones are:1. Immigration has made a significant contribution to the total populationof the country and to the way in which it has changed.2. In general, the immigrants were widely dispersed throughout thecountry. They were represented in the population of every town withmore than 1^ 500 inhabitants. Furthermore 37% of them have chosento reside outside of these settlements. The immigrants most attractedto rural areas were those from the U.S.A., 46% of whom settled outsideof towns with more than 1,500 inhabitants.3. Immigration to Ireland was highly selective in terms of age, educationand occupational grouping. Almost 75% of the immigrants were under35 years of age, 15% had attended a third-level educational establish-ment and 26% were employed as professional or technical workers.The corresponding figures for the usuallyresident population were 57%,3.7% and 8.8% respectively.4. There was considerable regional variation in the characteristics of theimmigrants. Their overall pattern reflected and contributed to theexisting pattern of regional imbalance in the population structure andthe provision of high level professional and technical services in thecountry.This paper has described the principal trends in recent times. Since attentionhas been largely confined to aggregate trends at the national level the authorhopes to explore in greater detail in another paper the variations within thecountry.JAMES A. WALSH,Our Lady of Mercy College,Blackrock, Co. Dublin

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Immigration to the Republic of Ireland, 1946-71

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