Polish Migration to Ireland: ‘Free Movers’ in the New European Mobility Space

Abstract

Since EU enlargement in 2004, Ireland has emerged as a major destination for Polish migrants. What are the particular features of this East–West migration? Based on repeat interviews with Polish migrants as part of a Qualitative Panel Study, we show that this migration is characterised by new mobility patterns. As ‘free movers’, Polish migrants are more mobile across national borders and within national labour markets. This affords them new opportunities beyond the employment experience. The younger and more educated of these migrants, especially, are part of a new generation of mobile Europeans for whom the move abroad is not only work-related but also involves lifestyle choices as part of a broader aspiration for self-development. The new mobility strategies of migrants become visible even in an economic downturn wherein Ireland has been hit by an unprecedented recession.

Keywords:

• EU Enlargement
• Ireland
• Poland
• Mobility
• Freedom of Movement

Acknowledgements

The research on which this paper is based was part of the Trinity Immigration Initiative (TII). The TII gratefully acknowledges funding provided by AIB Bank in support of the research programme.

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms to respect respondents’ anonymity.

2. In 2004 these three countries were the only ones to grant free-movement rights, including labour-market access. In subsequent years, most other ‘old’ EU member-states removed transitional restrictions. The last to do so were Austria and Germany in May 2011. There is a different situation for nationals from the 2007 accession states, Romania and Bulgaria, who still probably face restrictions in most EU-15 member-states until 2014. Hence the discussion in this paper includes the term ‘NMS migrants’—primarily referring to migrants from the 2004 accession states who, by now, have full free-movement rights all across the EU.

3. Drinkwater et al. (2009) report similar findings from their study on the labour-market experience of NMS migrants in the UK.

4. A few of our participants were employed in skilled positions—as a chef or a receptionist, for example—for which they held no relevant qualifications. They essentially received their training ‘on the job’, a feature that is not unknown in liberal market economies such as Ireland and the UK with a less-developed system of vocational training (Dieckhoff 2008).