The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has confirmed that approximately 150,000 people immigrated to Ireland in the 12 months between April 2023 and April 2024.
The figures represent a 17-year high. According to the CSO data the 149,200 immigrants includes 30,000 returning Irish citizens, 27,000 other EU citizens and 5,400 citizens of the UK.
The remaining 86,800 immigrants were made up of citizens from across the rest of the world.
It is worth noting that almost 70,000 people left the State during the same, the highest emigration figure since 2015.
That includes almost 11,000 Irish emigrating to Australia.
These figures have been described as “profoundly alarming” by Independent TD for Laois/Offaly Carol Nolan.
“What we are witnessing is unnerving and totally unsustainable levels of inward migration that will inevitably bring the capacity of the state to provide even minimal services to a screeching halt,” Deputy Nolan said.
“This is a multi-generational catastrophe unfolding in plain sight; one that is already crippling the capacity of the state to meet current housing and medical need.
“What kind of Ireland will those 30,000 Irish citizens be returning to?
“We can now see the evidence that a signal has indeed gone out, at a global level that Irelands ‘pull factors’ remain magnetically attractive to those arriving here through the international protection and immigration systems.”
The Independent TD says this is “due in the main to the fact that Government through sheer timidity and spinelessness has failed to adopt a more robust enforcement approach for the last number of years.
“No state can cope with these numbers during an infrastructure and housing crisis.
“It is therefore almost inevitable, if completely foreseeable, that we are heading toward the precipice of a multi-systems failure as the annual burden of inward migration numbers shows no signs of abating.”
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