As a newspaper founded by an immigrant we do well to keep an eye on emigration and immigration.
Since passage of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act the flow of legal Irish immigration to the United States has all but vanished.
There were, of course, the various visa lotteries in the late 1980s and early 90s that allowed tens of thousands of Irish to obtain coveted green cards.
But that seems like ancient history right now.
And yet, Irish people are still coming to America, and legally.
According to the latest figures released by the Irish government's Central Statistics Office, in the twelve months up to April 2025 6,100 people left Ireland to live in the U.S., an increase of 22 percent on 2024. At the same time 9,600 people moved to Ireland from the U.S., a rise of 4,900 from a year earlier.
Much of this back and forth is doubtless due to the record levels of business investment by both U.S. and Irish companies. Not a few Irish heading west would be doing so in the context of work for their employers. The same for Americans heading east.
Many of these are the children of Irish in the U.S. and are so able to benefit from dual citizenship.
It's unlikely that many Irish are simply taking a chance on an American move given the current discouraging state of affairs.
Unlike times past, crossing the Atlantic these days is, more often than not, in the context of a business to business move.
Overall, the number of people who immigrated to Ireland in the year up to April 2025 fell by 16 percent over the previous twelve months. The total was 125,300.
It was, however, the fourth successive year where more than 100,000 people immigrated to the Republic of Ireland.
Of the total, 31,500 were returning Irish citizens, 25,300 were EU citizens and 4,900 were UK citizens, with the remaining arrivals coming from other countries.
The Republic's population increased by 78,300 in the same period to about 5.46 million people.
65,600 people departed the Republic in the 12 months to April, a six percent drop on the same period a year earlier.
The year up to April 2025 was a reminder that Australia is today a preferred destination for Irish wanting to explore the world beyond the home island's boundaries.
13,500 Irish moved to Australia, an increase of 27 percent over the year ending in April 2024, and up by 187 percent on the year ending in April 2023.
This represented the highest level of emigration from Ireland to Australia since 2013, when an estimated 14,100 made the move. It is worth noting that the Australia number is more than double that of Irish moving to the U.S.
The context of moving to America is worth further study. It is not so much joblessness in Ireland that is prompting Irish people to head for America but rather, as noted above, very often a move to another position within the same company.
Some Irish are doubtless finding new work with U.S. companies, at times by means of the H1B visa program. Some Irish find a new life in America through marriage. There might be a few still just taking a chance.
But in overall terms America's door is today more closed than open. Statistics are all very well, and indeed, interesting but they are just numbers.
The real life stories behind them are something else altogether.
