Migration: The movement of people to live in another place for more than a year.

Emigration… leave a country

Immigration….. Settle in a new country

Most significant movement in today's world is within national boundaries.

Voluntary migration: Chosen for the sake of a better life elsewhere…. balance the difficulties & rewards of a new place.

Forced migration: due to war, persecution, natural disasters (famine)….can end up in a place not of their choosing.

Push & Pull Factors:

Destination has a pull effect…homeland has a push effect.

Weigh up the factors to see if better to go or stay. Age, education & expectation of life all add to the pros & cons of migrating.

Access to information plays a vital role in voluntary migration… allows for more informed decision making.

Migration in Ireland: Two main factors since famine times:

1. Migration from Ulster, Munster & Connaught to Leinster & abroad.

E.g. pop of Connaught 1841 = 1.4 million

2002 = 433,000 a 70% fall.

pop of Leinster 1841 = 2 million

2002 = 2 million same.

2. Rural to urban migration.

1926 32% urban 68% rural. 2004 60% urban 40% rural.

Growth of urban areas due to:

1. Industrial estates: Created in urban areas & brought increase in industrial jobs…. attracted people to urban areas…. employment.

2. Accommodation: Dev. of suburban houses, in estates, close to services (school, hospital, leisure) as well as high quality apartments & town houses all attract pop to the area.

3. Third level education: Huge increase in 3rd level educ. created need for accomm. Housing estates & services dev. near 3rd level colleges.

Post 1950 migration trends:

1951 pop was 2.9m… decline due to emigration. Nearly half a million emigrated in 1950’s leading to lowest pop ever in 1961 of 2.8m

1960’s… reduced emigration

1970’s …. Net in-migration… multi national companies attracted by tax incentives, tax free exports, grants and space (industrial estates) for development.

1980’s… high emigration.. International recession, factories closed.

1990’s… high in migration.. Economic boom & demand for labour.

Effects of Migration

Positive Effects of emigration

1. A safety valve that reduced pop and unemployment & so reduced pressure on govt. resources.

2. Remittance money (sent home by emigrants) & this aided the economy. E.g.. 1990 $71 world wide… Egyptians sent home one third of country’s foreign earnings in 1990’s.

3. Increases standard of living & chance of training for the emigrant.

4. Flow of tourism as families visit & travel.

5. Political safeguard… countries take in asylum seekers.

6. Creates a cultural diversity in the country

Negative Effects of emigration

1. Loss of skilled workforce… young & educated ‘brain drain’… effects productivity & change in home countries.

2. Smaller home markets… less demand for products as those with disposable income have left.

3. Depopulation… mostly of rural areas…ageing pop left on farms… low output. Reduced services, less marriages, reduced pop.

Positive effects of immigration

1. Foreign workers …skilled workers & professionals attracted to the country. Also fill low paid jobs.

2. Cultural effects…make a country outward looking & cosmopolitan.

3. New skills… brought to a country by graduates & trades people

Negative effects of immigration

1. Repatriation of guest workers… foreign nationals employed on a fixed contract basis.

2. When contracts expire they must return home but are used to higher standard of living.

3. Racist attacks against migrants.

4. Refugees: From wars or persecution… tends to be large numbers E.g. civil wars in Africa… Guinea, Rwanda. In 1999 Africa with 12% of world pop had 20% of world refugees. Cost of supporting these, financially & socially, cause a huge burden to host countries.

Migration policies in EU & Ireland

EU allows freedom of movt of workers within all EU countries…. allow worker to improve living conditions & social advancement.

Workers can remain in a country indefinitely once they have worked there.

The country that first accepts a refugee takes responsibility for awarding refugee status…. A database of fingerprints is set up called Eurodac for this purpose. Some refugees are from former colonies of EU members…. Led to difficulty for some (Irl) in accepting these as citizens of the EU.

Irelands immigration policy

Nationals from the European Economic Area (EEA) (EU states + Norway, Iceland Lichtenstein) do not need a visa to live & work in Irl.

Those who need a visa must apply for a work permit before entering the state.

Asylum seekers are given full board accommodation at recognized centres while their application is been processed.

People not requiring a visa include:

People with special skills & students who have permission to stay.

People with refugee status

People granted permission on humanitarian grounds.

People claiming refugee status while their claim is being processed.