Total immigration figures fall as work permits and asylum numbers rise – report

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

There has been a drop in overall immigration numbers in Ireland despite a 40 per cent increase in asylum applications and a 27 per cent increase in work permits last year.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has analysed new data and policies and aimed to give an overview of the migration landscape in Ireland.

The report found a 16 per cent drop in immigration in the year to April compared with the previous year, with an estimated 125,300 people arriving in Ireland during that period.

The report shows that some pressures on the system, like arrivals from Ukraine, eased in 2024, while the strong uptake of employment permits shows the system is responding to Irish labour market gaps. However, significant capacity pressures persisted in 2024, especially in the international protection processing and accommodation system

“This decrease likely reflects the decreased number of arrivals from Ukraine in the year to April 2025,” it said.

“The CSO estimates that emigration also decreased slightly, with 65,600 people departing from the State, a decrease of 6.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2024.”

A total of 18,561 applications for international protection were made in Ireland in 2024, according to the International Protection Office (IPO), representing a 40 per cent increase from 2023.

The ESRI said that 70 per cent of the 13,108 decisions made by IPO were refusals, with 35 per cent positive decisions of an appeal or review in 2024.

Nigeria, Jordan and Pakistan were the top three countries of origin for people seeking asylum in Ireland.

The largest increase was in applications from Jordan, and the biggest decrease was in applications from Algeria, which was added to the list of countries deemed “safe” by Irish authorities in January 2024.

Despite a 56 per cent increase in the number of decisions made by the International Protection Office (IPO) in 2024 compared with the previous year, the median processing time for completed cases was 16 months.

There was also a significant backlog of appeals in 2024, which saw a 148 per cent increase at the end of the year compared with the end of 2023.

There was a 71 per cent drop in arrivals from Ukraine compared to the previous year, with 9,558 PPSNs allocated in 2024.

Last year also saw a 17 per cent increase in unaccompanied minors referred to Tusla, to a total of 619, with 209 of these from Ukraine.

Almost 6,000 asylum seekers were not offered accommodation on arrival in Ireland in 2024; the state has published a strategy on how to scale up accommodation following legal action launched by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

Ireland has also opted into seven pieces of legislation under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in 2024, which will come into force in June 2026, and indicated that it will also align with the pieces of legislation under the pact that it cannot opt into.

The ESRI report said the number of people who left Ireland by voluntary return last year increased by 345 per cent, to 935, and there was also a 208 per cent increase in the number of people ordered to leave, to 3,275.

There was a 153 per cent increase in deportations enforced in 2024 compared with 2023, a continued recovery from decreases during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of people refused entry at the border also decreased by 7 per cent in 2024, and 67 people were identified as victims of trafficking in 2024.

The ESRI also noted that 2024 saw the introduction of the most significant reform of employment permit legislation since 2006, with the aim of addressing labour shortages in Ireland.

This preceded a 27 per cent increase in the number of employment permits issued in 2024, after a drop in 2023.

According to residence permit data, 24 per cent of first permits issued to non-EEA nationals in 2024 were for employment, 48 per cent were for education, 5 per cent for family and a further 5 per cent for international protection, with the rest categorised as “other”.

Keire Murphy, an author of the report, said: “The report shows that some pressures on the system, like arrivals from Ukraine, eased in 2024, while the strong uptake of employment permits shows the system is responding to Irish labour market gaps.

“However, significant capacity pressures persisted in 2024, especially in the international protection processing and accommodation system.