ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the impact of the recent economic growth, emigration changes in migration patterns to and from Ireland. It is primarily interested in the relationship between these changes and the construction, or indeed reconstruction, of Irish identity. The chapter discusses the changing racialisation of Irish identity as a consequence of and response to immigration. It also discusses the 2004 Citizenship Referendum, its racist overtones, and its fundamental rescripting of the nature of Irish citizenship and identity designed to limit immigration of non-white peoples. The National Action Plan against Racism (NPAR), published in January 2005, provides the most explicit statement about the relationship between immigration and racism. In the wake of the referendum, debates about race and immigration have increasingly shifted focus, from asylum seekers and refugees to economic migrants and 'non-nationals'. Ireland expects its citizens to be able to move to and work in any part of the world, but not vice versa.
