Diaspora Engagement in Ireland, North and South, in the Shadow of Brexit

“It Just Feels Weird” – Irish External Voting and the ‘Brexit Irish’

“…Irish citizenship can be claimed down to the third generation and an estimated 3.8 million citizens live outside Ireland -up to half of this number reside in NI (Hickman, 2020). Ireland, in line with other countries has since the 1990s increasingly recognised benefits associated with diaspora engagement (Devlin Trew, 2018) however these efforts have received some criticism, accused of being overly concerned with the extraction of money or capital from the Irish abroad (Boyle & Kavanagh, 2018;Hickman, 2020). In response, the Irish Government has increasingly acknowledged the diaspora as both 'an asset and a responsibility', with a recognizable broadening of strategies including the funding of projects that support welfare, advocacy and connectivity amongst the Irish abroad (Boyle & Kavanagh, 2018:68).…”

“…In response, the Irish Government has increasingly acknowledged the diaspora as both 'an asset and a responsibility', with a recognizable broadening of strategies including the funding of projects that support welfare, advocacy and connectivity amongst the Irish abroad (Boyle & Kavanagh, 2018:68). Nevertheless, a notable absence within these strategies is the provision of external voting for citizens abroad (Devlin Trew, 2018;Hickman, 2020).…”

“…Similar scenes could be witnessed around Repeal the 8th; post-referendum media spoke of emigrants motivated to return to vote, many of whom expressed a desire to make change in an Ireland they hoped to return to in the future (Ryan, 2018,Kenny, 2018: O'Neill, 2018. Return migration is sometimes viewed as the pinnacle of the diasporic dream (Ní Laoire, 2008) and in 2012 research into the lives of recent Irish emigrants found that 72 per cent indicated 'a high intention to return' (Devlin Trew, 2018). A year later University College Cork's Emigre project reported their respondents (recent emigrants) felt that those who intended to return should have an input in Irish elections (Glynn et al, 2013).…”

“…The Emigre team recounted that only a minority of interviewees didn't view losing their right to vote on exit as a major issue (Ibid, 2013). The Irish Government has expressed great interest in encouraging the return of emigrants, stating in 2015 an intention to attract 70,000 people back to Ireland by 2020 (Devlin Trew, 2018).…”

Diaspora Policies, Consular Services and Social Protection for Irish Citizens Abroad

“…There has been criticism of Ireland's diaspora engagement policies (Gray 2006(Gray , 2012Boyle et al 2013;Boyle and Kavanagh 2018;Devlin Trew 2018). These include commenting on its overwhelming economic motivation as it seeks either to make money or cultural capital out of the Irish diaspora.…”