ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Irish migration in the postwar period within the broader framework of European migration patterns and trends. The analysis for the most part will be concerned with the period from the end of the Second World War in 1945 until 1981, although some comment on more recent trends will be incorporated where appropriate. Return migration from Britain was not altogether unusual even in the immediate postwar period. The comparative European case studies selected for consideration in this discussion are Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, all southern European countries which are traditionally associated with high rates of migration in the postwar period. In the postwar period until 1981 well over 500,000 people migrated from the Irish Republic. Migration was a regional phenomenon in all of the case countries, a feature which is frequently overlooked within the context of Irish migration studies.
