Immigration to Ireland expected to continue

[tadpole]

04 April 2006

Ireland has had an influx of some 160,000 overseas immigrants over the past 21 months. The majority of these migrants have sought and received Personal Public Service numbers, and are making a visible contribution to the economy.

Ireland immigration is the most part Eastern European, and they are working as unskilled labour. Studies have shown that domestic work labour is moving out of sectors such as hospitality and construction in order to make way for foreign workers.

A report by NCB Stockbrokers suggest that in Ireland the majority of immigrants are young adults, so from the 160,000 that have entered Ireland to work, foreign labour makes up approximately 8% of the workforce. This figure is without comparison any where in Europe.

A spokesman for NCB said,"Unfortunately we do not know how many immigrants who have PPS numbers have stayed in Ireland, or moved to another EU country. We do not know precisely how many of these people are Polish, Lithuanians, Latvians or Czech."

The report also suggests this influx of immigrants to Ireland's shores is not a short term phenomenon. It is predicted that by 2020 the population of Ireland will have grown from 4.1 million to 5.3 million. The number of immigrants will have risen from 400,000 to 1 million and will account for 19% of the country's population.

The NCB expects on average 53,000 overseas workers each year to come and work in Ireland over the next five years.

The report was aimed to research economic forecasts and finds how much a vital component immigrant workers are in the continuing expansion of the Irish economy.

http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_...d_continue.htm

[SPDAY]

More migrant workers than ever have been arriving in Ireland in
recent months, new figures show

An average of 10,269 migrant workers signed up per month for
Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers in the first three months of
the year

This compares with an average monthly total of 9,162 for the
whole of 2005 and 8,931 per month in 2004

The average for the first three months of the year is up 40pc
from the 7,200 seen last year

The figures are quoted this morning by the Irish Times, which does
not reveal its source for them

The figures do not give a precise indication of the number of
migrant workers currently in the country, since many of those
who obtained PPS numbers may since have left

However, the paper says that nearly 200,000 migrants from eastern
Europe have been issued with PPS numbers since their countries
joined the EU in May 2004

It says The vast majority (137,000) are coming from Poland,
followed by Lithuania (34,000) and Latvia (17,200)