Irish people in mainland Europe

Irish people in mainland Europe are members of the Irish diaspora who reside in mainland Europe.

Demographics
While the Irish population in Continental Europe is about 450,000-550,000, it was estimated that there are 2.8 million first, second, and third-generation Irish living there. There are an estimated 5 million people with active interests in Irish music, Irish sports, Irish dancing, Irish culture and Irish literature. For example, Poland's Irish Embassy has confirmed that while there are approximately 500 Irish residents in the country, there are between 50,000 and 100,000 people involved in the Irish music, dancing and cultural scene. Italy, with an estimated Irish population of 2,000 to 5,000, has a website receiving 100,000 regular visitors, mostly covering Irish music and culture in Italy. Similar levels of interest in Irish culture exist all over Europe.

Central Europe
Irish presence in Central Europe dates back to the Middle Ages, when Irish monks established several monasteries, including the Schottenstift in Vienna in 1155.

There were 1,830 and 257 Irish people in Poland and Slovakia, respectively, according to the 2011 Polish census and 2021 Slovak census.

France
Thirty thousand Irish live in France; this number includes more than 15,000 in Paris.

Germany
Irish presence in Germany dates back to the Middle Ages, as by the turn of the 13th century Irish Benedictines established monasteries in Regensburg, Würzburg, Constance, Erfurt and Nuremberg, and several priories.

Over 2,800 people moved to Germany from Ireland in 2012, including almost 800 German citizens. As of 2021, about 35,000 Irish live in Germany. Together with Germans interested in Irish culture, some of these emigrants organise Irish cultural events across the country.

Low Countries
In Belgium, St Anthony's College, Leuven was an important centre of early modern migration, hosting priests and theological students from the 1600s until the early 1980s. The college's students helped preserve national traditions and the Irish language during the penal laws period. Sean O’ Dubhghaill suggests a population of around 11,000 Irish nationals in 2019, though advertising for The Gathering Ireland 2013 claimed a much higher number of around 400,000 people with either Irish nationality or heritage. Belgium's national statistics office Statbel distinguishes between Belgians, neighbouring nationalities (France, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany), EU and non-EU nationals, but does not disclose exact figures for individual nationalities.

There were 10,241 Irish people registered as living in the Netherlands at the beginning of 2023. The leader of the Dutch agrarian party Farmer-Citizen Movement, Caroline van der Plas, is of maternal Irish descent.

According to Statec, approximately 2,400 Irish nationals reside in Luxembourg as of January 2024.