Reports drifting back to Irish Echo indicate that planes flying between Ireland and the United States over the Christmas holiday were by no means empty despite the hard times. It can only be speculated as to how many passengers in those planes were scouting out the United States for a longer term stay, or indeed planning on not taking the return flight. 

There has been considerable speculation as the economic malaise takes deeper hold in Ireland that despite the current restrictions on the flow of Irish immigrants to the United States, many will feel so desperate that they will take a chance on becoming undocumented and facing legal bars to U.S. reentry of either three or 10 years. This is an enormous price to pay for work – but as the dole queues lengthen in Ireland it's a fair bet that many young people will do their sums and reckon it's a price that they will just have to bear.

In the meantime, of course, the prospects for immigration reform are looking bleaker, espe­cially with the failure of the Dream Act to take flight on Capitol Hill last month and the swear­ing in of the 112th Congress, a body even less positively disposed towards reform than its predecessor.

The thing is, countries such as Australia and Canada – for sure in the sights of numerous Irish – do not have the capacity to absorb the kind of numbers that the United States can.

And there are already so many families, coun­ty and personal connections between the United States and Ireland that landing in New York or Boston with just a phone number is far from being a deterrent.

The year 2011 could be a standout then, less for positive reasons than for the personal imper­atives of an unknown number of Irish women and men who see their destiny beyond the boundaries of Ireland's 32 and within those of America's 50.