Abstract

In the latter part of the 20th century large numbers of Irish emigrants, for the first time, began to return. Who returned? Why? What are their stories? This unique project explores the experiences of 92 emigrants, from all parts of Ireland and all kinds of backgrounds, in their own words collected from 2004 to 2008.The NMR project, funded by the Higher Education Authority North-South Programme, was conducted by Dr Johanne Devlin Trew at the Centre for Migration Studies (Omagh) and School of History, Queen’s University Belfast, and Dr Caitríona Ní Laoire based in the Department of Geography (University College Cork). An oral archive of life narratives has been created and will be available to researchers into the future. The archive also includes interviews from a second oral history project entitled Northern Ireland Emigrant Narratives (NIEN), undertaken by Johanne Devlin Trew at the Centre for Migration Studies and Queen’s University Belfast, and funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This online resource was conceived and principally designed by Dr Johanne Devlin Trew.