Until recently, Ireland was a net exporter of its people. Poverty, hunger, political repression and lack of opportunity scattered Irish emigrants throughout the world created a vibrant diaspora and multiple ‘Irelands beyond Ireland’.
But the island of Ireland has also been home to multiple waves of immigrants. Not all came in peace: from the Vikings in the eight century; to the Anglo-Normans (English) in the twelfth century; to the Protestant settlers in Ulster in the seventeenth century, some newcomers arrived as conquerors and colonists.
Yet, over time, they became integrated into Irish society. Others came for shelter: from the French Huguenots who were fleeing religious persecution in the seventeenth century, to Ukrainian refugees fleeing from war in the 2020s, Ireland has offered sanctuary to those facing discrimination and death elsewhere.
These and other immigrants helped shape the religious, political, economic, and cultural landscape of the country.
Some visitors came for short stays, attracted by the country’s reputation as a friend to the oppressed. This included journeys undertaken by Black abolitionists and activists, from African-born Olaudah Equiano in the 1790s, to escaped American slave, Frederick Douglass in the 1840s, to actor and civil rights champion, Paul Robeson in the 1930s.
Each regarded their time in Ireland as their happiest. Douglass commented on "the total absence of all manifestations of prejudice against me, on account of my colour" and, when he left the country, wrote: "Wherever else I feel myself to be a stranger, I will remember I have a home in Belfast".
New York-born Ira Aldridge, who first performed in Belfast in 1829, playing Othello, felt so welcome that he made Ireland his home in the 1830s, travelling the length and breadth of the country, bringing Shakespeare to the people.
It was this spirit of acceptance that helped define what it meant to be Irish.
Perhaps the roots of the ubiquitous phrase, Céad Mille Fáilte, lie in Ireland’s unique Brehon Laws—customs and laws that governed Irish society before the coming of the English. The laws, which were not written down until the seventh century, were a remarkable body of progressive codes that regulated all aspects of society, from beekeeping to dog-fighting to homicide.
On the topic of hospitality, the Brehon Laws were explicit: all households, from royal residences to the poorest of homes, were obliged to provide some level of oigidecht (in modern Irish aíocht) —or hospitality—to travellers, even if they were unknown.
The hospitality included food and drink, and even entertainment, although the degree of each depended on the social status of the household. No monetary payment was expected, although the visitor could offer a poem or a song to his hosts.
Yet again, Ireland is changing. Single acts of gratuitous violence—as abhorrent as they are—do not define immigrants. Nor should overt xenophobia define Irish society. Our history is complex. But accepting and assisting ‘strangers’ has been an important part of it.
Dr. Christine Kinealy heads up Ireland's Great Hunger Institute in Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA and previously taught in Queen's University.
