Contemporary Emigration from Croatia to Ireland with a Special Focus on Young People from Slavonia

Sa？etak Following the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union (1 July 2013), a trend of emigration to the Republic of Ireland appeared. Using the theory of push and pull factors and the theory of migration systems (cf. Castles, Miller, 2003; Bretell and Hollifield 2000), the aim of the paper was to explore the context and scope of this wave and to find out the reasons why Ireland has become a popular destination for Croatian citizens. After presenting the macroeconomic and macropolitical context, an overview and comparison of statistical data on emigration from Croatia to Ireland, i.e. the entry of Croatian citizens into the Irish labour market, are presented. After that, mediators in the migration process (international employment agencies, former migrants, and social migrant networks, as well as the role of global communication technologies and social platforms) were researched. The research was conducted from summer 2015 to autumn 2017. The paper is based on ethnological and cultural anthropological qualitative methodology. Ethnographic material, i.e. lived experiences of immigrants, were obtained through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews and virtually – by means of modern technology (Skype conversations, Facebook chats and e-mails). Therefore, field research was also carried out within the contemporary, produced and, in this case, virtual site (cf. Appadurai, 2011: 265). The Croatian Bureau of Statistics annually publishes the report “Migration of the population of Republic of Croatia”. These data reveal that the number of emigrated Croatian citizens has increased since the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union in 2013. Croatia’s net migration rate is becoming more negative every year and, according to the latest data in 2016, amounted to -22,451. That year, 36,436 persons moved abroad – somewhat more men (54.1%) than women (45.9 %). The counties in the Croatian region of Slavonia have the most negative net migration rate (see Migracija stanovni？tva Republike Hrvatske u 2016. [Migration of Population of Republic of Croatia in 2016], 2017). Considering that the same statistical data show that young people aged between 20 and 34 emigrate the most, migrants from Slavonia in this age group were interviewed for this paper. Although the focus of the research is on the physical territory of Slavonia, this space is also a virtual one, by which we “move away from conventional conceptions of space, turning to social instead of physical space…” (Ple？e, 2006: 131). Six young women and four young men were