Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD *Read OP for mod warnings before posting*

Fair play to Carol Nolan once again

A reply to Parliamentary Questions from Offaly Independent TD Carol Nolan shows that almost a third of those claiming long term unemployment benefit are non-Irish nationals. 

Deputy Nolan had also requested information on the employment status of persons who had been granted Irish citizenship and specifically “the number of adults who were granted citizenship from 2020 to date in 2025 currently in receipt of either jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance”, but that wasn’t available.

The Minister said that the Department of Social Protection does not hold data on citizenship but he was able to provide statistics on the number of nationalities other than Irish in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit at the end of April.

These show that of the 135,567 people claiming unemployment payments that 29% were of “other nationalities.” It is not clear from the Minister’s response whether that refers to people who are citizens of other countries or to all people who were born outside of the state.

The proportion of people of other nationalities claiming long term unemployment payments through Jobseeker’s Allowance is even higher at 31%. Which means that almost one third of the long-term unemployed in the state are non-Irish people.

The CSO says that Census 2022 recorded that 12% of the population are non-Irish citizens living in Ireland, though its data also shows that some 22% of the population are persons born outside of the state.

The statistics in the response to Carol Nolan also cast a rather different light on the narrative that immigration is both an unqualified benefit to the country and that the vast majority of adult non-nationals are working. Clearly they are not, and it would be interesting to see an analysis of the impact which this has on state revenues and expenditure.

Commenting on the findings, Carol Nolan said: “These statistics are the latest indication of the enormous and unsustainable financial burden being borne by the state. We need to cop ourselves on. While the UK and others are coming round to the idea of radical reform in this area, Ireland continues to lag behind with systems ripe for exploitation.”

Some stand out data

Deputy Nolan had also requested information on the employment status of persons who had been granted Irish citizenship and specifically “the number of adults who were granted citizenship from 2020 to date in 2025 currently in receipt of either jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance”, but that wasn’t available.

The cynic in me think this is deliberate, surely as a state this would be vital data to have. Does not sit with me at all and absolute stinks tbh

But there we go we have some data to go through and just goes to show our fears are coming to fruition, the drain on the Irish state is just going to get worse and worse. It sickens me, I work my ass of and my tax is going to these freeloaders.

The statistics in the response to Carol Nolan also cast a rather different light on the narrative that immigration is both an unqualified benefit to the country and that the vast majority of adult non-nationals are working. Clearly they are not, and it would be interesting to see an analysis of the impact which this has on state revenues and expenditure.

Most people know it's not, far from it

Commenting on the findings, Carol Nolan said: “These statistics are the latest indication of the enormous and unsustainable financial burden being borne by the state. We need to cop ourselves on. While the UK and others are coming round to the idea of radical reform in this area, Ireland continues to lag behind with systems ripe for exploitation.”

When you give out benefits like sweets, you create this burden of more and more coming to this country. Carol is right we need a radical radical reform before it gets to late if it hasn't already

It is not that new. You can go back a few years and read papers published by the Central Bank arguing that inward migration needs to increase in order to keep wages low for the lower paid, something they felt would be increasingly difficult with the rising cost of housing.

That specialist was either lying or wrong.

The journal knew they were wrong or they didn't fact check it like you are supposed to before releasing it.

Whether it was intended or not I don't know.

What I do know is they published something factually incorrect like you requested proof of.

I am not sure what is so hard to understand.

Scroll back to look at the post on 11-05-2025 at 9:58am

It will give you the proof you need on how the article was factually incorrect.

I am surprised you missed it, but have a look and let us know how the article is correct.

The neutral, liberal, open society that has created a wonderful modern Ireland where international companies were keen to grow and people move to in order to take up jobs and have the craic has been abused by the EU-imposed asylum seeker scam.

It all comes down to the fact these are single men without their families, barely any women and children. Men leaving a country while the women and children stay behind are going to war. Getting called "far right" for simply questioning what is happening shows that those in charge of this "policy" are breaching fundamental democratic rights of citizens in favour of an opaque and increasingly bothersome EU. Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, UK all seem to be doing okay outside of the EU - Ireland needs to have a serious conversation about how we see ourselves fitting into the EU.

Mod Edit: Warned for ignoring mod instructions in OP regarding asylum seekers

Mugs for allowing in economic migrants who claim to be asylum seekers .

Maybe they came from charity? Who paid for them? My partner's friend gives free GP care to IPAS people in Sligo in her own time, for free. What a bitch.

Mod Edit: Warning issued for ignoring mod instructions regarding anecdotes

Floods Cross was just a temporary site for Ukrainians I think.

Trudder (Newtownmountkennedy) was IPAS with tents which weren't holding up in winter, similar to Crooksling but in Crooksling there's an old building which is still in use.

There was also a tent centre put in Athlone last year which was meant to be huge but this got partially halted along with the one in Thornton Hall (completely stopped) because of planning disputes.

i contacted deputy Nolan and asked her to table this question. I asked the respective of Ministers housing and social welfare asking how much social housing is distributed to people who have never paid tax here. No answer other than there no record as it’s done by local authority. (The housing part)

When I pushed it they replied with a circular dated 2012. For the welfare part I asked about obligations to pay welfare to people who have never paid tax here and I got the following reply. At that point I forwarded this Deputy Nolan to see if she can extract more transparency.

This is the reply from the Minister for social welfare.

There is a range of EU legislation applicable in this area, namely Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the co-ordination of social security, Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 which lays down the procedure for implementing Regulation 883/2004 and Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States which has a broader scope.

Establishing which EU Member State should pay the EU Citizen with a social welfare need depends upon these established regulations and directives, and how they interact with national legislation in the Member State. The ultimate aim of these regulations and directives is to remove barriers to the established EU Treaty-based rights relating to freedom of movement.

Much of how EU citizens (including Irish nationals) are treated when they reside in another EU Member State is regulated by Directive 2004/38/EC (also known as the ‘Citizens’ Rights Directive’). Among the provisions of this Directive, which are much wider in scope than the payments made by this Department, there is a requirement that European Union citizens resident in another EU Member State are entitled to receive equal treatment to the nationals of that Member State. That Directive was transposed into Irish Law by way of Statutory Instrument 548/2015, European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulation 2015. That legislation should be the basis on which decisions in relation to right of residence for EU/EEA citizens and their families should be made.

Once an EU citizen has the right to reside in Ireland under SI 548/2015, they are entitled under EU law to apply for social welfare payments subject to the qualifying conditions of the scheme as set out in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act. If no social insurance contributions have been paid in Ireland, the EU citizen can apply for a social assistance payment subject to the legislative conditions of the scheme including the habitual residence condition which is set out in Section 246 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act. While there is a caveat that Member States are not obliged to pay social assistance payments during the first three months of residence, this derogation does not apply beyond that period. These provisions protect EUcitizens residing in any EU Member State, and they protect Irish citizens residing in another EU Member State.

The regulations governing the co-ordination of social security systems between Member States (No 883/04 and No 987/09) lays down common rules to protect social security rights when moving within the European Union whereby EU Citizens may be entitled to a payment from their last Member State of employment – subject to certain conditions. All EU nationals and their families who are covered by the social security legislation of a Member State can benefit from these coordination rules. When calculating an entitlement to an Irish social insurance payment under EU regulations, all reckonable contributions from countries covered by the regulations are combined and these can be used with Irish contribution towards qualifying for a payment.

While the information above provides a general overview of the provisions available to EU Citizens residing here in Ireland, the specific provisions being availed of by any individual or group of EU Citizens will depend on the individual circumstances relevant to the EU Citizen seeking support.

The most recent complete figures currently available from December 2022 show that 2.8% of the total number of EU citizens in receipt of a working age payment had no record of pay related social insurance and the overall average duration was for 65 months. You may wish to note that included in this group will be those who have transferred their social insurance benefits from other EU Member States under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and who, when their benefit exhausted, applied for and qualified for a social assistance payment.

Mod Edit: Warned for ignoring mod instruction regarding anecdotes

https://archive.ph/CaKmu

"Italy and Denmark have urged other EU countries to join their calls to rein in the European Court of Human Rights on asylum and immigration.Rome and Copenhagen are pressing other member states to sign a letter criticising the Strasbourg court for overreaching its original remit and tying national lawmakers’ hands.The court is making it difficult to “make political decisions in our own democracies”, according to the letter, which was first obtained by the EurActiv website."

I think it's bad that failed AS are put on the social housing list.

I am not referring to successful AS here, I am talking about those whose claim was rejected.

Surely that is a pull factor?

A person who is in reality an economic migrant, as confirmed by the head of GNIB, can make an application for asylum, in the knowledge that even if the application fails, they will still be put on the social housing list.

Of course they jump the queue.

Remember that lad who was moaning over not being able to use the gym in his half a million euro social housing apartment?

Sure he was in Canada working calling them racists just two years earlier.

Done… as you say, the questions are loaded and some you could argue are of equal importance, but everyone should complete it if they can.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Only takes a few minutes as well.

Well worth contributing to.

Hopefully this is true as it would be great great news for the area

Councillor de Courcy welcomed the apparent decision to close the site and that this will come as a great relief to the local community. She noted that it “will improve the place for the people who live there” but expressed concerns over where the current IPAS residents will now be moved to.

“Where will all of these people now go? It would not be fair if they are simply moved into some other community in Clondalkin or Tallaght or elsewhere without their consultation or consent, and bring with them all the problems that were starkly apparent around Crooksling.”

Very true, the government will just move them to a new area instead of getting them a flight out of the country