Irish migration to Great Britain Research Paper

Irish migration to Great Britain - Research Paper Example Irish people have a long and profound history of migration to Great Britain. The migration is due to economic necessities, political compulsions and geographical location. The historic aspect that accelerates the migration process since the eleventh century has varied impact on the economy of Great Britain. After many political and geographical adjustments and divisions, the present position is that Ireland has two entities. Independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, that remains part of Great Britain. This long association and disassociation, has resulted in millions or Irish people becoming residents of Great Britain and they can be identified through their Irish ancestry. As the migration process continues unabated, Irish people have become the largest minority group in Great Britain and this position is being sustained for centuries. Apart from others, proximity and employment factors are the important reasons for Irish migration to Great Britain and it is going on una bated with intermittent high and lows. Economic conditions dominate the scene of migration With the Great Famine of the 1840s and potato crop failures on a recurring basis, exoduses on a mammoth scale occur. About a million people migrate and an equal number of them die in Ireland due to hunger and poor economic conditions. Migration on a big scale occurs for the second time during the period 1930-1960, as the Irish people are trying to escape from the desperately poor economic conditions, following the establishment of the Irish Free State. On the other hand, conditions are favorable in Great Britain that facilitates migration from Ireland. With the rapid industrialization in Great Britain, demand for labor is intense and the domestic and constructions companies depend on labor. Especially in the construction industry, the contribution of the Irish labor is magnificent and this has been acknowledged by the concerned authorities in Great Britain. Seasonal migration for a specific period is also in vogue and they are known as harvest labors. London accounts for the biggest Irish population and they are concentrated in the County Kilburn area of North West London. Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester are the other important cities in England that own a good chunk of Irish population. Irish population in Scotland and Wales is also substantial. There are an unspecified number of people of Irish ancestry in Great Britain and some other cities with Irish population are, Cardiff, Coventry, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Coat bridge, Leeds, Lupton, Middleborough, Preston, Portsmouth and Sunderland. â€Å"Genealogy has become hugely popular throughout the world in recent decades but has long had an important position in Ireland. Many of the surviving medieval Gaelic manuscripts are accounts of the pedigree of important, powerful Irish families.†(Murphy) Due to some profound reasons that are not part of the culture of normal procedures of migration, it is impossible to decide the exact dimensions of Irish migration to Great Britain. Ireland remains under British rule for centuries, and notwithstanding the legal provisions to render the process of assimilation of the Irish in the mainstream society by barring them from owning land, the sense of kinship persists. â€Å"Emigration has been a feature of Irish society for centuries. There is another myth that emigration began during and after the "Great Famine" 1846 - 52. But in fact the Irish had been upping sticks and moving long before that.† (Murphy) The process has been unstoppable due to one or the other reason. It is often forgotten that until 1922 Ireland was part of the UK, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As such they were one and the same country and migration between the two islands was commonplace. Consequently records of Irish born are common in British civil, parish and other records. Indeed one-sixth of all residents of the UK