Ireland’s tax and welfare system must change to keep up with a migrant workforce |
Ireland is experiencing a surge in immigration. Last year, the total population rose by 66,900, bringing it to 5,525,600 – the highest level in the Republic since the Famine. In terms of who was coming and going, 110,600 immigrants arrived and 62,500 emigrants left, putting net migration at 48,100. The natural increase in the population, which is births minus deaths, was 18,800, implying that immigrants accounted for 72 per cent of the increase in the Irish population last year. This is not an insignificant shift in the composition of the population.
Talking about immigration numbers is tricky, partly because many people take an emotional and often entrenched position. There are those who think that any number of immigrants is always too much, while there are those who believe any number of migrants can be accommodated. Most people are somewhere in the middle.
In opinion polls, immigration comes third on a list of citizens’ top concerns. Housing is the second and, obviously, net immigration affects the availability of housing. Therefore, the number of new people coming into the country has significant political and economic implications.
One of the major issues concerns the welfare state and the question of whether large-scale immigration and Western welfare states are compatible. For example, was the success of the Irish in America related to the absence of a welfare state, where Irish immigrants worked hard and, ultimately, pulled themselves up, thus attracting admiration rather than suspicion - eventually at least?
‘I always had massive doubts about myself’: Peter O’Mahony on Munster and the aftermath
Buckingham Village was supposed to reinvigorate Dublin’s inner city. By 2022, it was its worst slum
Paddy McKillen jnr built a hospitality........