Polish migrants in Ireland : migration patterns, social networks and 'community'

Abstract

This is a study on young Polish professional migrants currently living and working in the Greater Dublin Area who are employed in higher skilled and middle level jobs. It focuses on the migration process, changing mobility strategies, the role of migrant networks and issues related to the existence of the Polish 'community' in Ireland. The research was autoethnographic and it deployed two main qualitative methods of data collection: participant observation and semi-structured interviews. It was conducted between early 2007 and 2010. The majority of the interview data was collected as part of the Migrant Careers and Aspiration Project, one of six projects involved in the Trinity Immigration Initiative. It has been estimated, that by the end of 2007 there were around 200,000 Poles living in Ireland with the majority of them active on the Irish labour market (Glowny Urzad Statystyczny, 2010; CSO, 2008). Due to the fact that mass migration of Polish nationals to Ireland is a relatively new phenomenon, there is also little known about those who came to this country over the last few years, mainly following the European Union Enlargement in May 2004.