Walking through the Irish Emigration Museum on a recent visit to Dublin, I was stopped in my tracks at the section covering the 1980s. Tánaiste Brian Lenihan snr extolled the benefits of emigration: “We can’t all live on a small island.”He described high Irish emigration as natural rather than a systemic failure, suggesting a “global generation” of Irish people. The mile square city on the Hudson river was teeming with newly arrived Irish young people. The young Irish people who are leaving now seem more confident, better equipped for the transition they face. I am also buoyed by the accepting attitude of the majority of young Irish people towards the increased diversity of their classmates, whom they see as friends.

Source: The Irish Times March 24, 2026 12:00 UTC