Immigration and Ireland - MEGATHREAD *Mod Note Added 14/08/25*

I'll dig it out, but 2050 is 25 years away.

I think business groups like IBEC want cheap labour too in order to keep wages down, not just skilled people. Problem is we have a chronic housing shortage.

The difference is the Irish tend to do a few years in these countries, contribute to the economy, pay their taxes etc and then return home.

A lot of the people being brought in now will be a net drain on the Irish taxpayer for the next 3 generations.

How many people from Lagos or Pakistan are going to return home? (Except on holidays, because of course)

Just coming back to you on this as can't find the link to where I read about the governments plans for 2050. I had seen it referenced in the past by Simon Coveney and Eamon Ryan. But anyway, as I can't find proof, I'll retract the 'government want' part of my post.

That being said, the cso are now saying there were almost 5.5m here in 2023, and given the rate we increasing, and the fact the government won't admit the country is creaking at the seams or put immigration caps in place, it is not a stretch to say we could be approaching 8m by 2050 if current trends contuine.

Well this is true, we simply aren't building enough units for the current rate of immigration.

Unless someone is fleeing an active warzone or a repressive regime - and the majority of our asylum seekers are not - it’s surely easier to apply for a legitimate passport than to go through the trouble of obtaining a fake one.

And even if I somehow made it across Europe without a passport or any form of ID, I could still verify my identity and nationality/country of origin within 30 minutes using just my phone. Social media profiles, booking confirmations / boarding passes of the flight I just came in on, payslips, bank statements, even digital copies of my passport or driver’s license - which I likely would have emailed to colleges, work, insurance companies, etc - all leave a trail. These digital breadcrumbs clearly establish who I am and where I come from. Refusing to provide such evidence suggests a deliberate attempt to obscure the truth and game the system.

Alright, setting aside the issue of processing applications for international protection, one thing is clear: we absolutely should not be granting citizenship to individuals who cannot verify their identity. In today’s world, where nearly everyone has some form of digital footprint, there is no valid excuse for this. If they can’t provide a passport from their home country, they should not get an Irish one either. The inability to travel abroad or access the full rights that citizenship brings might serve as some kind of a deterrent.

As per Deputy Ken O’Flynn in the clip posted, applicants for citizenship can submit a sworn affidavit instead of providing identifying documentation.

There probably are genuine cases where you can't get ID from where you originated from to be fair

And? It gives a link to the Irish Times and other sources.

The source is the Irish times and you know that. It's irrelevant if someone uses chatgbt, Google, bing to find the article, the source will remain the Irish times. I take it you've no argument against the source?

I think the introduction of modular housing is going to bring an enormous increase to the availability of houses in Ireland. I live in the country. The majority of the houses in my parish have a very large back garden with many houses having a half acre of ground. Many of the families have teenage to adult children living with them. The vast majority of these children will never be able to afford to buy or build a house for themselves, with the average house locally selling for over 450,000 euro. I can envisage a slow introduction of modular houses, with the first one to arrive being a source of discussion. When the incredible cost savings become apparent then I envisage very many more arriving. Gradually, I think we will see them, in built up and urban areas including Dublin. I have a relation living in Dublin whose child who together with her partner are making a good income but cannot afford a new house. Consequently they have emigrated for a few years to try and save the necessary finance but are struggling to do so. Their site is modest one but a modular home could be lifted by crane on to the back of their site. I presume there will be initial opposition to putting these modular houses into establishes areas. When up for an All Ireland final, I was berated for parking my car partially on the pavement, so I can imagine the reception the first modular house will receive on that estate. One can visualise that these modular homes will bring significant societal changes, positive and negative, but in my opinion change they will bring. I believe the government realise the significant impact that modular houses will bring. they have started the conversation and as the situation gets progressively and quicky worse they will have little opposition to the introduction of modular housing by late Autumn.

Mod - warned for ignoring moderator instruction re anecdotes

The CSO issued a report 6 years ago which projected the population growth for Ireland from 2019-2036. It has taken us 6 years to get to that 2036 figure. Utter lunacy, god knows what the revised 2036 figures are now.

The CSO said the country's overall population, which stood at 4.74 million in 2016, is projected to increase to between 5.33 million and 5.81 million by 2036