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THE NEW EUROPEANS: THE IRISH IN PARIS TODAY.

SUMMARY

Emigration is again running at a high annual rate and looks set to continue for at least a number of years. The debate in Ireland_(1)__ has inevitably tended to focus to a disproportionate extent on those features of emigration with which people are most familiar or which are most controversial in political terms, and has accordingly tended to ignore or downplay those features of current emigration which are novel. In practical terms, this has meant a political and media preoccupation with the situation of Irish "illegals" in the United States. The political reasons for this are obvious, as are the very real problems of many Irish "illegals". What the debate sometimes obscures, however, is the necessity for a global consideration of the phenomenon of current emigration, including the implications of current projections both for individuals and for Government policy.

The persistence of such strongly established patterns of emigration as those demonstrated by the links between the West of Ireland and certain American cities is striking evidence of the fact that the great bulk of emigrants will opt, all else being equal, for going from the familiar to the familiar. Emigration as a wrenching process of social dislocation is mitigated for the individual by the existence of a wide variety of informal social networks, so that many emigrants, in a sense, never leave home.

Such processes of continuity can make it difficult to evaluate underlying changes. Yet it is clear that today's emigrant is in some respects different from those of previous generations. She/he may be urban or rural, is probably well- educated and has a new self-confidence. Now, Ireland's 16- year membership of the European Community has led to a new path for prospective emigrants: continental Europe.

The new Irish community in Paris is a case in point. Small in numbers and untypical in character for many years, the Paris Irish community is currently undergoing a period of dramatic growth. By 1995, the Irish population of Paris could number 15,000-20,000.

The study of this new emigrant group, by means of a social survey undertaken by the author in Spring 1988, proved particularly revealing. The Irish in Paris are typical of the new generation of emigrants: young, dynamic, well-educated, mobile and rapidly integrated into the host society. Yet it can be shown that an important condition of their establishment and rapid growth, in Paris as in Philadelphia, is the existence of the same kind of social networking which has always characterised the Irish abroad; people go to places where they know someone. Thus we are now observing an interesting phenomenon: the very inertia which the existing social networks produced, by encouraging continuing emigration to places which people knew and to which they had gone for generations, is likely to reproduce itself as the Paris Irish community, in turn, reaches that critical mass necessary for rapid growth. The signs are that this threshold may now have been reached.

Paris is not unique. In West Germany, as well as in the Benelux countries and further afield, new Irish communities are being established. Drawing on the wellsprings of classic Irish emigrant practice but also equipped to deal with their new environments, such communities are likely to be fast-growing and permanent features in the future landscape of Irish emigration.

INTRODUCTION

The stereotype.

There were and are certain myths about the typical emigrant, male or female. He is from a western seaboard county or somewhere like Cavan, works as a labourer in England or America, gets drunk every Friday night and talks of going home, but never does; she comes from a similar region, works in domestic service and, while she might speak with a broth of an accent, is inclined to set the knives and forks the wrong way around. The enormous capacity of the Irish for self- denigration, combined with the explicit racism of large parts of the British press, both in the past and now, has produced a lop-sided image of the Irish emigrant: ignorant, rural and poor_(2)_.

The reality has always been much more complex. Ignorance and poverty there was, particularly in the last century. Most Irish emigrants did in fact start their lives abroad in very humble conditions, doing the work which the host country's workers found too dirty, onerous or badly-paid to do themselves. What all the "Irish navvy" jokes and lace-curtain racism, especially among our own middle classes, tends to overlook, is the capacity for survival and self-improvement of the Irish emigrant communities which established themselves in many parts of the world, especially the English-speaking places, from the 19th century to the present day. Irish emigrants often came from families with an almost obsessive appreciation, however poor they were, of the value of education. Friends found the new arrivals a "start" at work and a place to stay. Once abroad, many worked extremely hard, helping one another, but integrating as well wherever they were welcome. Already by the 1950s, for instance, many Irish emigrants to Britain were beginning to establish themselves in the relatively better paid sectors of the host economy. Thus, one writer notes the post-war transition when Irish women arriving in Britain began the switch from domestic service to office work, which, although modest enough in itself, demanded more skills and a better education and offered better pay and social circumstances_(3)_._ This kind of transition had taken place at an even earlier date in the United States, although the arrival of the Irish as one of the top five ethnic groups in the social scale was predictably accompanied by a sharp swing of many of them to the political right and by the emergence of an Irish-American identity which is sometimes little more than green beer, Tin Pan Alley music and ethnic tourism, even if the latter has a certain economic value to those still at home.

Our most successful export: people.

The political and economic situation in Ireland today is unique. The country continues to display a schizophrenic identity: a "third world economy" of high unemployment contrasts with another economy of low inflation, a consistent trade surplus, high foreign investment and a rapidly modernizing infrastructure, fully integrated, for good or ill, into the economy of the European Community. Emigration, which had dropped dramatically in the 1970s, has again returned to substantial levels: 32,000 in the year 1987-1988 and predicted to continue at a comparable level for several years at least_(4)__. Yet the emigrants are, paradoxically, among the best- educated workers anywhere. Ireland is turning out a superb human product, for others to consume.

The new generation of emigrants: plus ça change?

Are today's generation of emigrants different from their predecessors? The short answer would seem to be "yes" and "no".

Certainly the new emigrants are far better educated and more confident, and this does not only go for the yuppy few. New avenues are opening up, although the traditional occupations are still being pursued. Today's emigrant is just as likely to be from an urban as from a rural background_(5)__ and many will have left existing jobs in order to emigrate. New and (compared to previous experience) exotic locations, especially within EC countries, are being chosen.

In other ways, Irish emigrants today behave very much as they always did, particularly in their ability (not unique to them) to develop informal social networks of various kinds to get new arrivals on their feet and integrated into the host culture, while keeping up that strong sense of cultural identity which is the emigrant's bulwark against the sense of loneliness, isolation and alienation which she/he may experience in a new country. And of course, it's still tough. Emigration is not a voluntary decision for many people, and life in a new place is hard and sometimes frightening.

Anti-French stereotypes: the frog-eating factor.

How typical are the Irish in Paris today? Put another way, why do most Irish choose Philadelphia or Preston while some choose Paris?

The stock response to that question might refer to the problem of language and to the various popular perceptions in Ireland of Paris and France. The Irish media sometimes reflect misconceptions about French life and culture which are predominantly anti-French stereotypes imported from the neighbouring island. Many Irish people persist in believing that the French are a strange garlic-eating race who have no morality either in the bedroom or on the rugby pitch_(6)__ and who _ insist on speaking their own incomprehensible language instead of being sensible like everyone else and adopting English. By implication, the sort of Irish person who might actually want to go and live and work among these people is definitely not your salt of the earth labouring emigrant and is more than likely to be some effete type with an exclusive education and an untypically privileged background.

So, forgetting history (Irish emigration to France was an important phenomenon in the 18th century)_(7)__ and culture (from Wilde and Joyce to Beckett - but artists are freaks anyway) and even sport (Sean Kelly and Stephan Roche and top female jockey Caroline Lee are the exceptions that prove the rule) why should a potential Irish emigrant choose Paris? The question would have been easier to answer 15 years ago, because the limited number of Irish people in Paris, no more than a few hundred, clearly made them unrepresentative of the mainstream of Irish emigrants. Most fell into a small number of categories: au pairs, students, persons working with international organizations such as UNESCO, Irish women married to French men and a wide variety of individuals with nothing in particular in common except, perhaps, a desire to be somewhere else apart from Ireland and, like most of the other Irish there at the time, relatively privileged or untypical backgrounds.

The Irish in Paris now: a dramatic change.

There has clearly been a dramatic change within the past five years; even the superficial evidence bears this out. In a city without a single Irish pub five years ago, there are now four directly managed by Irish people, as well as a number of others with Irish links_(8)__. There are now two Irish restaurants in Paris_(9)__. A young and active body, the _Association Irlandaise_, publishes a regular journal_(10)__, runs a regular radio programme_(11)__, fields football teams, organizes language classes in Irish and French as well as classes in music and dancing, and interests itself in the welfare of Irish immigrants there. Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish-language promotional body, already has more than 80 members on its books, although its programme of activities is not yet under way. Existing organizations such as the Comit‚ France-Irlande and the Societé Fran‡aise d'Etudes Irlandaises continue to be active and two high-quality academic journals - _Etudes Irlandaises_ and _Irlande Politique et Sociale_ - are published on a regular basis by French and Irish academics, many of whom are based in Paris.

Traditional music has a large following and the increasingly frequent visits by Irish musical acts of all kinds always attract a large local Irish following. Ireland itself and the Irish, in the meantime, are increasingly better-known and enjoy an ever more favourable reputation in France - through increasing media coverage, through such events as President Mitterand's State visit and holidays in Ireland and Stephen Roche's victory in the Tour de France, and through the 100,000 French people (half of them from the Paris area)_(12)__ who visit Ireland every year. Something interesting is happening.

THE SURVEY.

Survey of the Irish in Paris: the basic questions.

Apart from trying to the extent that is possible to estimate the number of Irish people in Paris - estimates range from 2500 to 8000 - and collecting whatever obvious information could be found on the new Irish in Paris, there seemed only one way to find out who they were, why they were here and how they were getting on, and that was to ask them. This was the purpose of the survey undertaken in April 1988 by the author under the aegis of the Université‚ de Paris III and with the full cooperation of the organized section of the Irish community itself_(13)__. The survey was the first of its kind ever undertaken among the Paris Irish, and as far as I am aware, the first ever serious survey "sur place" of new Irish emigrants to continental Europe. This in itself reflects both the novelty and the importance of the new wave, and some of the questions posed in the course of this research have a relevance which stretches beyond the Irish commununity in Paris:

Methodological problems.

One major obstacle should immediately be mentioned. Due to incomplete data on the Irish community in Paris, it was not possible to conduct a scientifically random survey, since there was no way either of establishing the total size of the community, or of adopting a genuinely random method of selection. Accordingly, and bearing these limitations in mind, it was decided to survey as representative a selection of Irish people in Paris as was possible. This presented a problem: only those who have some kind of contact, however informal, with other Irish people, could easily be located. Such an approach threatened to distort the picture by excluding such people as those who deliberately chose not to associate with other Irish people here or those who through force of circumstances were unable to do so; an example would be young married couples living in the suburbs. These distortions should not be exaggerated: it is clear from other evidence that most recent Irish emigrants anywhere are under 30, mainly unmarried and in the great majority of cases anxious to maintain some kind of contact, even if occasional, with their co-citizens. The survey therefore concentrated on the social occasions and places where the broadest selection of Irish people were likely to be gathered together - pubs, music, and religious occasions_(14)__.

So who are the Irish here today - what is their background, why have they come here, how are they settling in? 132 persons, 82 women and 50 men, answered a 49 question survey administered by a mainly French team of interviewers, with Irish, British, German and Dutch assistance (the multinational flavour was to ensure a better chance of honest answers!). The results were analysed by computer.

The survey was divided, like Gaul, into three broad sections. First, the background of each respondent was examined by sex, region, age, education and parental education and social background. A second part of the questionnaire dealt with the reasons which had led the respondent to leave Ireland (the "push-factors") and the particular reasons which led the respondent to choose France as a destination (the "pull-factors")_(15)__. Finally, the questionnaire dealt with the respondent's experience of France, looking at occupation, earnings, accommodation, integration into French society and social life, and administrative, social and legal problems. Two specific points, religious practice and voting intentions, were also examined.

The background of Irish emigrants to Paris.

The first point to note is the difference in the relative numbers of men and women. A small surplus of women over men appears to have been a general feature of emigration from Ireland since the last war, as well as at a number of earlier periods (not  surprisingly, this tendency was reversed at other times, especially in wartime)_(16)__. In the case of Paris, there would appear to be substantially more women than men: the figure for those surveyed was 62%. While an examination of the educational background of respondents predictably reveals that more women than men learned French in Ireland, and to a higher level, this is not the only reason for the disparity in numbers. Another factor is the relative availability of work of specific kinds. While women in the survey were concentrated in a narrower range of occupations, these appear in general to be jobs which are readily available, such as the secretarial sector. It may also be the case, as indicated by a recent survey of Irish "illegals" in the New York area_(17)__, that work for male emigrants going to the traditional English-speaking target countries is easier to obtain and better paid than that which is on offer for women_(18)__. Perhaps Irish women are more adventurous than their male counterparts?

The answers to the question about the place of origin very clearly reflect current trends in emigration - 40% of those surveyed were from the Dublin area and 69% described themselves as being from an urban background. There were some interesting regional variations: a comparatively large percentage of women (12%) came from Cork city and county, whereas the corresponding figure for men was not unusual. Another feature was the relative absence of men from western seaboard counties, traditionally the areas of highest emigration. The figure of 8% contrasts with a figure of 15% for women. The reasons for this difference between men and women from western seaboard counties would merit further investigation. One could speculate that the "American connection" is so strong in the case of the West of Ireland that it would only be the hardy few who would choose a continental European destination. As already pointed out, a recent survey of Irish "illegals" in the New York area showed that recently arrived Irish male emigrants were in general far better paid than their female counterparts. Perhaps this is one reason why relatively more women than men among those surveyed in Paris came from rural parts of Ireland, especially the west and south. The overall regional breakdown was as follows: Dublin 40%, Rest of Leinster 13.6%, Munster 24.2%, Connacht 11.4%, Ulster (3 counties) 4%, Ulster (6 counties) 6%.

Turning to age, 49% of those surveyed were under 25 and 69% were under 30. The figure for under 25s is very interesting because it is almost identical to what Damien Courtney calls "Ireland's best known cliché‚"_(19)__, beloved of IDA admen for a number of years now. Very few men were under 20 but 16% of women respondents were, reflecting the number of young women working as secretaries and au pairs.

Education

Education was one area where the non-typical character of Irish emigrants to Paris tended to confirm itself. 76% of all those surveyed had some kind of post-secondary education, which could be anything from a one-year secretarial course to a university-level qualification. Nearly 70% of men surveyed had a university-level education compared to a little more than 51% of females. This certainly shows that Irish people emigrating to Paris are by no means typical. One should not, however, exaggerate the importance of this factor. In this as in other questions in the survey, the tendency revealed was towards a broadening of the base, especially in relation to very recent arrivals. It should also be borne in mind that whereas as recently as 1970 a majority of Irish emigrants to Britain had not completed post-primary education_(20)__, the quiet revolution set in motion by Donough O'Malley has radically changed all that, to the extent that the great majority of emigrants now have at least a Leaving Certificate. Answers to the questions on education in the survey reflect this fact, as well as the substantial investments made in third-level education in the past twenty years.

35% of those surveyed had some kind of teaching qualification. Two categories stood out: TEFL and post-primary teaching. TEFL is a qualification often claimed by those who in fact have little or no specific teacher training, and the numbers indicate the relative ease with which Irish people not otherwise qualified as teachers can enter this part of the French labour market. Americans used to dominate much of this market in Paris: of late, at least one disgruntled Yank has been heard to claim that the Irish have achieved a position of unfair dominance in recent years! As pointed out, post-primary teachers also figure prominantly in the survey. Some were on career breaks, while others were evidently unable to find work in Ireland, where a falling second-level school population and education cut-backs have all but wiped out opportunities for general Arts graduates.

Knowledge of French - language is not a barrier.

A specific question was asked about the learning of French. The overwhelming majority - 84% - had some exposure to French, at least in school. This is not surprising since French is by far the commonest foreign language option in Irish secondary schools_(21)__. There was a difference between the sexes, 92% of women compared to 72% of men, but the real difference was between those who had basic school French and those who took their study of French further than school, whether to university or a similar institution, a secretarial college or an institution such as the Alliance Fran‡aise. 57% of all women surveyed had done this compared to only 22% of men. A very small number of women had no French before coming to France, whereas 22% of men surveyed were in this position. These figures clearly reflect a bias in the Irish educational system and in the options chosen by girls and boys. Studying foreign languages would appear to be still largely a "girl's subject". On the positive side, the number of those of either sex who said they still had no French at the time of the survey was very small and consisted mainly of recent arrivals. Learning the language would not appear to be as big an obstacle as is sometimes suggested. Slightly more than half of all those surveyed said the standard of French teaching in Irish secondary schools was "good" or "adequate", an interesting figure in view of frequent past criticism of language teaching in schools as well as the various reforms introduced in recent years, especially the stress now placed on oral skills.

Irish and the acquisition of foreign languages.

It is often claimed that the teaching of Irish is actually an obstacle to the learning of modern continental languages in Irish schools_(22)__. The survey did not address this question directly, but such evidence as did emerge does not support the contention. In general, those with good Irish had good French as well. An inverse relationship between those claiming a good knowledge of Irish and good knowledge of French would have been significant, at least in attitudional terms. In the absence of such evidence one can at least say that the critics' case has not been proved. There is of course a considerable body of evidence from various bilingual countries which indicates that second language acquisition at an early age is a positive advantage_(23)__.

Another interesting point to emerge in connection with the Irish language was the clearly regional nature of the decline of interest in Irish. The highest percentages of those claiming a knowledge of Irish were in Connacht (80%) and Munster (75%), compared to 52-55% for Dublin and the Leinster region.

Social and educational background of respondents' parents.

Some attempt was made to look at the social background of those surveyed by examining the education and occupation of their parents. A minority of all parents had a post-secondary education: 26% of fathers and 15% of mothers. The percentage of parents neither of whom had any formal education (in practice, no post-primary certificate), was a significant minority, at 19%, while overall 29% of fathers and 27% of mothers had no formal education (ie these latter figures include cases where the other parent had a formal education).

Two other interesting points emerged when looking at the extent to which the educational background of parents affected that of their children. First, a decision by a girl to pursue a third-level education appears to be equally likely to have been influenced by either parent having such an education. In the case of boys, only the educational level of the father appears to have played a role. Second, while a substantial number of respondents with a third-level education had parents with little or no formal education, the reverse was never the case.

In looking at the occupations of parents, it was noticeable that very few had unskilled jobs. The other major feature was that far more males - 44% - had fathers with professional or similar backgrounds, than females, at 23%. This reflects the fact that women in the survey came from a wider social spectrum than men. A comparison between respondents who had mothers who worked exclusively in the home and those whose mothers were in paid employment did not reveal any significant variations.

Reasons for coming to France.

As we have seen, the Paris Irish emigrant has a better than average education and is more likely than not to be from an urban background and to be from a relatively comfortable social background, although women reflected a more varied pattern than men. As pointed out, the trend is towards a broadening of the base, that is, emigrants to Paris are becoming more rather than less typical of the mainstream of Irish emigrants. So why did those surveyed choose France instead of the usual destination?

Taking the "push-factors" first, most of those surveyed were not forced abroad by extreme economic necessity. Only 21% said they were unemployed at the time they left Ireland. Those who had had jobs fell into various categories. Some had badly-paid jobs or poor prospects, or were afraid of redundancy: this might have been a factor, for instance, in the case of a number of qualified teachers. Other non-economic factors must also have played an important role. Certainly, an examination of jobs being done by those who were in employment in Ireland shows that not all had "dead-end" work.

An important minority had never worked in Ireland, but had moved to France directly after completing their education to work or to continue their studies. Another group had already taken the emigrant trail to some of the more usual places such as Britain, before coming to France. The vast majority of those surveyed came to France on their own. Some came with friends and there were a very small number of married couples: the latter point again reflects the very young age-profile of the Irish community in Paris.

The reasons which brought people to France (as opposed to the reasons which caused them to leave Ireland) are varied and interesting. The single most common reason was surprising: a prior job offer. Nearly one third of all women and a quarter of all men surveyed were in this position. Others (19%) came because they spoke French and thought they could find work, for miscellaneous reasons (18%), because of marriage or some other long-term relationship (12%), because of a posting to France from some other country (7%), or because, even though non-French speaking, people thought they would still find work (7%). Those who answered "miscellaneous" usually added further details: the desire to travel, the desire to get away from Ireland, and the desire to learn another language and culture. Curiously, the number of men who came to France because of a long-term personal relationship was much greater than the number of women who came for a similar reason:  20% compared to 7%. Evidently, in the case of the modern Irish anyway, it is not always the women who follow the men.

A rapid growth in numbers.

The survey confirmed a very clear progression from long-term residents, relatively few in number, to the most recent arrivals. 39% of all those surveyed had arrived less than one year ago, 29% came from 1-4 years ago, 23% came to France between 4 and 15 years ago and only 9% came before that time. Emigration from Ireland in the 1980s really only took off from 1984 onwards and the survey accordingly reflects the general trend, since nearly 70% of those surveyed had come during that period. The number of women arriving would also appear to be accelerating: 44% of all women surveyed came less than one year before the survey was carried out. The above figures partly reflect the self- confirming nature of a sense of community among the newer Irish. People arriving here are more likely than before to seek out other Irish people because they already know they are there and where to find them. It could be argued that this could have a distorting effect on the survey figures, since for various reasons the newer Irish are more likely to be "visible". Some distortion may be unavoidable, but it is also true that the knowledge that an Irish community exists in Paris can in itself act as an incentive to further immigration there.

Certainly the figures are dramatic. By present trends, the Irish population of Paris looks set to double within a few years. A Paris Irish community of 15-20,000 by the mid-1990s does not seem unlikely. Friends or contacts prior to arrival in Paris. This is a key point in the choice of destination for the great majority of potential emigrants. Most of those surveyed had friends or social contacts in Paris before coming. This confirms the truism already mentioned that people tend to emigrate from the familiar to the familiar, or at least to a place where someone will show them the ropes and where they will not be thrown entirely among strangers_(24)__. It is also significant that only a small number had exclusively Irish contacts in Paris before they came. Paradoxically, this is in fact a sign of the relative immaturity of the Irish community in terms of its development in Paris, since the majority of those coming here up to now are those who have been previously exposed to French life in some way, that is, they are somewhat untypical in Irish terms. The Irish population in Paris will probably really only start to take off when substantial numbers of people start to arrive for no other reason than that they have prior Irish friends or contacts.

It may be argued, of course, that today's street- wise and well-educated emigrant does not need this "crutch" of having Irish people around to help in the settling-in process. The evidence is that this factor continues to play an important  role in the individual's choice_(25)__.

Experience of France: work.

Work appears to be easier to find for women arriving in Paris than for men, but it is confined to a narrower range. Almost 73% of women surveyed were working as teachers, nurses, secretaries or au-pairs. Even this statistic shows that there have been important changes: the number of nurses and secretaries, in particular, is a new and growing phenomenon. Other women surveyed were working in a range of graduate-level (e.g. architects), administrative and unskilled jobs, such as fast-food outlets. One striking feature was that none of the women surveyed were working in sales, marketing and management, whereas an important minority of men were doing this kind of work. Men, as suggested, were doing a wider range of tasks, including sectors such as engineering, information technology, bar and restaurant work and accountancy.

One myth which can be laid to rest is the popular notion that nearly all the Irish in Paris are teachers. It is of course an important feature of the Irish employment scene in Paris, but only 29% of those surveyed were teaching, two- thirds of them women. 9% of those surveyed were au-pairs, including a solitary male.

Irish employment in Paris again reflects that trend towards a broadening of the base which has already been noted, with the traditional dominance of teaching and au-pair work giving way to a far more varied picture, although women are still concentrated to a excessive extent in specific categories. There may of course be many other job opportunities which have not as yet been explored by the still- recent Irish community in Paris.

Earnings and accommodation.

More than a quarter of those surveyed were earning more than FF10,000 per month (about IR£13320 p.a.). The figure of FF10000 represents a reasonably good salary for a young person by French or Irish standards (particularly if one bears in mind that tax rates are lower in France). At the other end of the scale, 18% are earning less than FF4000, but these were nearly all exceptional cases, such as au pairs or persons whose principal income arises outside France. Most respondents were earning between FF5000 and FF10000 - adequate at the upper end of the range, but hardly sufficient towards the lower end for life in an expensive city. A clear difference was to be seen between the sexes in the high-earning bracket: 38% of all men earned more than FF10000 compared to only 18% of women. In the next category (FF8500-10000), women are relatively better represented than men.

About half of all those interviewed, mainly recent arrivals, had only had one job since arriving in France. Finding accommodation, and the high cost of the little that is available, is probably the biggest problem for the new arrival in Paris_(26)__. The average rent being paid by survey respondents, which varied little by sex, was about FF2600 per month (about IRœ290) for a one-bedroomed apartment. A small minority earning very high salaries were paying rents of FF6000 to FF12000 per month and an even smaller number, nearly all long-term residents, owned their own apartments.

Sharing was a clear trend among recent and younger arrivals: nearly half of all those surveyed were sharing with at least one other person. French and Irish contacts since arriving in France. Broadly speaking, more than half of all those surveyed said that more than half of their friends and social contacts were French. Only a small number - mainly young, new arrivals, said all or nearly all of their friends were Irish. Nearly a fifth had few or no Irish friends. The answers to this question revealed that the Paris Irish are very far from being an inward-looking ghetto. Indeed this is brought out very clearly even in those places which might be thought of as most typically Irish: the pubs. In Britain, the United States and even West Germany, many Irish pubs serve as a kind of Irish refuge from the alien world outside. In Paris, the pubs serve more as bridges than as citadels. Typically, more than half those present on a normal evening in any of the Irish pubs here will be French_(27)__. This means that the pubs themselves serve as friendly half-way houses for new arrivals there.

Exposure to French-language media.

Two thirds of all those questioned said they "often" listened to or watched French radio and television, while 43% often read French newspapers and magazines. The most popular newspaper was _Le Monde_ (33%), followed by _Libération_ (30%) and _Le Figaro_ (21%). There was a striking difference between the sexes: women were far more likely than men to read _Le Figaro_ (usually seen as a newspaper of the Right), whereas far more men read _Lib‚ration_ (usually seen as a newspaper of the Left). The gap diminishes if one looks at graduates: maybe one reason might be that very recent, younger arrivals, (who happen to be mainly women), might be less likely to go initially for a heavier kind of newspaper or one which uses as much jargon as _Lib‚_. Even at graduate level however, a substantial minority of women but very few men read _Le Figaro_
Perhaps some respondents were referring to the Saturday edition, which includes _Madame Figaro_.

Religion.

55% of those interviewed said they still practiced their religion to a greater or lesser extent. Again, there were striking differences between the sexes. 62% of all women were practising believers, with little variation across the different age-groups. In the case of men, the overall figure of 56% looks very different when broken down: only 34% of those under 30 observed their religious duties. Another noticeable feature was evidence of a swing-back to religion on the part of a minority: 11% of women and 4% of men who had previously given up said they had gone back to practising their religion.

These finds are broadly in line with research elsewhere. In the case of Catholics in Ireland, attendance at Sunday Mass in Ireland continues at up to 90% , with some falling-off among younger people, especially men, in urban areas_(28)__. At the same time, it has long been observed that Irish Catholics, once outside the country, tend gradually to become less regular in their duties, and ultimately to move towards the same level of practice as the host community. This suggests that for many Irish people, religious observance is seen more as a part of a necessary social ritual in a relatively fixed and conservative commmunal environment rather than as a matter of individual action based on personal faith. Looked at in this light, the figures for Paris are, if anything, higher than might have been expected.

Come back to Erin?

About half said they would return to Ireland at some stage or that it was likely that they would do so. Most of the rest said they would stay in France. This type of question yields notoriously unreliable replies. For many emigrants, planning and talking about the return to Ireland serves as a kind of cathartic release for a trip which will never be made and obscures the fact that meantime they may be quite happily and successfully integrating into the local environment. Unless the evidence is available to prove the contrary, one must assume that the Paris Irish are likely to behave in a similar way, especially in view of their high level of integration and youthful age structure.

Official assistance and rights, social services.

There were fewer problems and complaints about the French administration than might have been expected. Thus, for instance, the new arrangements now in place for EC citizens applying for a _carte de séjour_ appear to work well - those who did have problems were nearly all students subject to the old system for obtaining cartes de séjour_(29)__. The number one problem was accommodation and the _number one grievance was the inability to vote in Ireland or in France_(30)__. Others wanted more information about jobs, health and _welfare, subsidized language training, more resources for Irish culture in Paris,
greater availability of the Irish media in Paris and subsidized travel to Ireland.

Voting patterns in an Irish Election.

A somewhat cheeky last question in the survey asked people who they would vote for in an Irish General Election if
the opportunity to do so existed. The breakdown was as follows:

The difference between the sexes was quite remarkable: 19% of women said they would vote for the Left compared to 39% of men. In the case of Sinn F‚in, the figures were 11% for men and 3% for women. Looking at specific parties, a significant 19% of women would vote for the Progressive Democrats but no men would do so. Further details about party political preferences will be made available on payment to the author of a suitably large fee!

CONCLUSIONS

The survey carried out cannot be claimed to be fully representative. Even if one accepts that caveat, the Paris Irish are clearly not entirely typical emigrants. However, the trends revealed are significant, and the survey provides some clues to likely future developments.

FUTURE TRENDS.

Emigration is unfortunately likely to continue at high levels - at least 25,000 per annum_(31)__ - for some years to _ come. For an increasing minority, Europe will be seen as an alternative to illegal status and an uncertain future in the United States or to settling in Britain, which not everyone will find a congenial option these days. Perhaps it is time to recognise the human cost of emigration by developing Government policies designed to help those who do go, both before leaving and in the places where they settle.

1992 is coming up rapidly. Whatever its overall impact will be, there must at least be a strong risk that the pull of capital and investment towards the central regions of the European Community will create new problems for the peripheral regions such as Ireland and Portugal. Again, there will be a human cost. Yet, those emigrants who move from the edge to the centre will be of great benefit to the economies of these central regions, with their aging populations. This might be borne in mind as negotiations proceed in Brussels.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people helped in the research on which this article is based. The most important are the 132 who answered questions and the dozen or so who asked them. The Association Irlandaise provided help, interest and support. Professors Patrick Rafroidi and Paul Brennan and my fellow-students of the Université‚ de Paris III, the Embassy, the owners and staff of all the Irish pubs, Fr Liam Swords of the Irish College, Fidelma Mullane of Universit‚ de Paris IV and many individuals provided guidance and help. To all, thanks.

Most of this article has already appeared in slightly different form in the Spring 1989 issue of "An Éireannach", journal of the Association Irlandaise in Paris.

March 1989.

Piaras Mac Éinrí