Croatian diaspora in Ireland

Number of Croats and their immigration

Based on the data collected it can be established that 20,000 Croats live on the territory of the Republic of Ireland. The exact number is difficult to determine due to dynamic migratrion process in both directions. In recent years, the number of Croats immigrating to the country has been falling and the wave of returnees to Croatia has been noticed. Also part f them immigrate to other EU countries and worldwide.
Early settlers came in the late nineties, but at the beginning of 2000 the number of migrants decreased. Due to the economic crisis both in Ireland and EU the number of Croats who immigrated to Ireland halved. There was a significant rise a year after the Republic of Croatia joined the EU.  Since 2017 the trend has been negative. The reasons are economic uncertainty caused by BREXIT and a high increase in the costs of living, especially in the capital town Dublin. The recent immigrants mostly settled in smaller towns.
 
Status of Croats in Ireland

There are no specific regulations on the rights and responsibilities of immigrants. Foreign nationals (especially those from EU countries) are treated equally as other Irish citizens regarding their employment and social rights.
One can apply for citizenship after residing in Ireland for nine years, out of which he or she has to be Irish tax payer for four years.After the application is submitted the person has to have a period of 1 year continuous residence. According to the available information, Croatian immigrants have not taken that opportunity. Ireland allows its citizens dual citizenship.

Croatian associations and Catholic missions

There are no organizations, institutions and associations in Ireland like those the Croatian community have in other countries. The reason of this is that migration has occurred recently. Attempts have been made to organize cultural and artistic societies, but so far the process has not been completed.

In November 2016 Croatian Catholic Mission in Ireland was established. It is based in Dublin (within the parish of St. Mary's, Haddington Road). It is headed by reverend Josip Levaković, priest of Đakovačko-osječka archdiocese. 
 
Croatian classes and courses of the Croatian language 
 
At Trinity College Dublin at the Department of Slavonic Studies the course of the Croatian language and literature has been organized. It was defined by the Agreement between the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia and Trinity College Dublin signed on 15 October 2012 in Dublin.
The supplementary school of the Croatian language is funded by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia (35 students divided into four gropus by age and knowledge of Croatian) and in 2020 the supplementary school of the Croatian language was opened in Cork.
Croatian language was listed among the EU languages in 2013/2014 school year that can be taken at Irish final high school exam as an extracurricular subject within the module- EU languages.

Publishing and Media

There are no Croatian media or publishing houses in Ireland. Croats in Ireland are active on social media (“Idemo u Irsku“, “Život i rad u Irskoj“, “Poslovi u Irskoj“, “Hrvati katolici u Irskoj“,”„Hrvati u Dublinu“, “Život u Dublinu“,”Hrvati u Corku“) etc.