Ireland’s Homeland-Diaspora Engagement: Policy Responses to the Post-2008 Economic Crisis

The term “diaspora” is a contested one, notably as regards to the number of generations which should be included within any definition of a national community living outside its region of origin. Nonetheless, when measured in terms of its population, Ireland has one of the largest global diasporas and continues to be a country of substantial and ongoing emigration. In spite of this, Irish governmental diasporic engagement has been slow and partial. In part, this was because emigration from Ireland was seen as an unavoidable socio-economic phenomenon. Historically, state engagement took the form of indirect support for emigrant activities as well as some cultural and economic promotion. However, following a new wave of emigration in the 1980s, officially Ireland gradually conceded that a different relationship with the diaspora was needed. Work towards the formalisation of a comprehensive policy strategy has only come about within the past two decades and notably with the publication of two key policy documents, in 2015 and 2020. This chapter explores the nature of that recent outreach and argues that, while the economic crisis of 2008 was not in itself a “critical juncture” in homeland-diaspora relations, it did accelerate the pace and nature of Irish diasporic engagement.