Aalborg University

A study of the present and planned investment and financial resource allocation decisions of Polish migrants to Ireland.

Background of the project.
Ireland is experiencing an intensive flood of foreign workers in recent
years. It is caused by two factors: the Irish extraordinary economical
growth; and the entry of ten new developing countries to the EU
community in 2004, to which Ireland (along with Great Britain only)
gave an immediate unrestricted access to the labour market. For the
first time in its history Ireland is experiencing a net immigration
growth. At the same time the social fabric is transforming in a fast
pace from strictly mono cultural Irish, to multicultural nation of
emigrants. The predominant foreign groups originate from central and
eastern Europe. This social shift generates many new market niches and
commercial potential; however the new social groups are poorly
understood and described. The well known fact is that the newcomers
immigrate in a quest to better themselves economically. However, a
fallacy is to equal this migration trend with other historical
immigrations, such as the ones of Europeans to U.S. and Australia
through the ages, and more recently of Turks to Germany or Moroccans to
Spain, to mention just a few. In our case the deciding immigration
factors are less obvious and might result in a different long term
outcome. The economical gap between the nations under consideration is
much smaller. Travel and communication is cheaper and readily
available. The migrants change their location more for the reason of
convenience than being forced by necessity, and they feel less bound by
need of belonging to one particular geographical area. The migration
occurs within one virtually borderless economical entity, which assures
an immediate access to full habitual rights to the newcomer, nearly
equal to these of the citizens, easing the mobility of masses by
decreasing the risks and inconveniences connected with a decision to
migrate. Therefore the assumption on the immigration trends cannot be
solely based on the historical evidence. A common view states that many
foreigners come to Ireland with the intention to save as much as
possible in a short or medium period of time, and come back home
countries. While working in Ireland, they often allocate their earnings
in real estate or small businesses back in their home countries. For
example since May 2004 (EU accession) about 2 million of Polish people
migrated to other EU countries in a search for better wages. Today it
is believed that this group, despite residing abroad, is driving in a
large extent the prices and demand on the housing market in Poland.
However, a number of people come to Ireland with plans to settle. The
spending patterns of both groups are different. The second group
focuses more on the current quality of life, and efforts to blend into
the local society. To make the situation even more complex, the plans
of both distinguished groups come under revision and commonly undergo a
radical change upon the initial experience of living abroad, which
makes it the more difficult to forecast the immigrants? future spending
patterns in quantitative manner assuming the answers being purely
rational and solid, withstanding the trial of time and situational
change. For these reasons the understanding of the new social fabric
must be based on a deeper analysis of the cultural background and the
various factors contributing towards the motivation of foreigners to
migrate. Only after the bigger picture is drawn which will provide the
understanding of economic motivators of the population, more precise
questions regarding particular types of investment and consumption
patterns can be asked. This project will aim at developing the
background knowledge on the economical, social and cultural drives and
motivators, as well as the expectations and goals of Eastern Europeans
who are coming to Ireland. It will focus on providing an understanding
of factors that drive consumption and investment decisions of this
group. Such knowledge may be an important element of decision making
while planning business development and investments that touch any
areas where the groups of migrants are involved.