‘Demographic Modernity’ in Ireland: A Cultural Analysis of Citizenship, Migration, and Fertility

Abstract

In June 2004 citizens in Ireland voted on a constitutional referendum which proposed “to change the rules about the constitutional entitlement to citizenship by birth.” Te proposed change and subsequent vote in favor of the referendum generated a variety of commentary and scholarship. While factors of political economy and a racialized discourse regarding immigration are central to understanding contemporary change in Ireland, this article examines the changing demographic and related cultural conditions corresponding with the referendum through three interrelated yet analytically distinguishable strands: a) population change, specifically patterns of migration and fertility; b) changing notions of Irish and European modernity and identity; and c) Ireland's historical experience of colonialism and diaspora. ‘Demographic modernity’ in Ireland is a cultural complex that interprets social demographic factors such as (low) fertility, high life expectancy, timing of first births and of marriage, low infant/child mortality, and variable standards of migration and mobility in relation to political and historical discourses about nation and person.