Up until 1980, Ireland's population ………

For generations of Irish, escaping overseas was the only hope for the ambitious. As late as the mid-eighties, Ireland was losing more than 25,000 people a year. It was a depressing drain that a country of 3.5 million could not afford. John Fitzgerald of the Economic Research Institute in Dublin says, “Ireland has been a very closed claustrophobic society. Everybody moved out and nobody moved in.” This is, however, no longer the case. For the first time since the Great Famine of 1840, when millions left for America, the emigrants have been outnumbered by newcomers, including thousands of re-entries.