In response to a PQ from Green TD Patrick Costello on April 9th, Minister for State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond, stated there are approximately 66,500 work permits currently active in the state.
There were a total of 30,981 new issues in 2023, an almost doubling of the figure of 16,279 issued in 2021.
Employment is the main reason given by supporters of the current levels of immigration in regard to why it is so high – and why the non-national population of the state currently stands at just over 20%.
It is interesting, then, to examine just how valid such a claim is, without even examining the overall issues related to the structure of the Irish economy and its seeming dependence on both overseas investment and non-Irish workers.
In its analysis of the economy on the 50th anniversary of EU membership, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that there were 469,900 persons of other than Irish nationality who were working here in 2022. That equated to 18.7% of the total workforce of 2,500,000.
It was also close to the percentage of the population enumerated in the 2022 Census who had been born overseas.
The composition of that workforce was almost 54% made up of persons from the other EU member states, mostly from the more recently joined countries; 13.3% of persons from the UK and just under a third from countries form outside of the EU and overwhelmingly from outside of Europe.
That is reflected, as we shall see, in the figures for work permits and for the issues of new Personal Public Service numbers (PPS.) The PPS statistics and the overall figures for the growth of the population of the state also show that individuals coming here to work are not the main component factor in either instance.
The number of new PPS numbers issued increased from 184,644 in 2021 to 269,596 in 2023. An overall growth of 84,852, or 46%.
| 2021 | 2023 | |
| Irish | 68,289 | 64,613 |
| Other EU | 50,357 | 58,008 |
| Other European | 26,432 | 49,933 |
| Asian | 21,739 | 46,355 |
| African | 6,075 | 17,606 |
| Central American | 694 | 3,539 |
| North American | 4,984 | 5,578 |
| South American | 3,410 | 18,510 |
| Middle Eastern | 1,568 | 3,777 |
| Oceania | 1,063 | 1,640 |
| Unknown | 33 | 37 |
| Total | 184,644 | 269,596 |
It will be noted, as we have previously pointed out, that the amount of new PPS numbers issued to persons of Irish nationality – mostly accounted for by new births – is both in decline in absolute terms and accounted for just 24% of total new issues last year.
There are also striking differences in the numbers of PPS numbers which are issued to persons from different parts of the world who are clearly here to work and those who are clearly not here to work, or at least have not sought work through the normal legitimate channels, as mostly accounted for in the case of persons from outside of the EU and EEA area by the statistics on work permits.
The total of new PPS numbers issued to Africans in 2023 does not even equate to the combined total of Africans who applied for International Protection and work permits. For example, there were 1,885 PPS numbers issued to Algerians, but the total of asylum applications – before the tap was turned off – was 1,462. Where did the other 423 come from given that just a total of 17 work permits were issued to Algerians?
The same can be seen in the numbers of people being housed by the state in IPAS accommodation. Africans make up all but around 12,000 of the 28,867 of the numbers currently under the responsibility of IPAS as well as the vast bulk of new arrivals. All of these persons – regardless of the fact that most have or will have their applications rejected – are currently living at the expense of Irish citizens.
Little research has been conducted on the overall costs of immigration, but given the figures on the numbers of people who arrive here and are granted PPS numbers and therefore social welfare and other public provisions either as asylum seekers, persons under Temporary Protection from the war in parts of Ukraine, and the dependents of persons who are working, the cost is surely as likely to be negative as positive.
That much is even implied in a report published by the ESRI in January 2023 in regard to non-nationals who are working. While the introduction to the report by Minister Roderic O’Gorman, and even the text and emphasis of the report itself, is on addressing racism in the work place and income disparities, if the non-national workforce is more likely to be in lower paid and lower tax paying jobs then their net economic benefit is likely to be minimal or negative.
The authors also noted that non-national workers have trade union membership rates of around one third of Irish workers. That would correspond to the demand for work permits in certain sectors which would not be noted for either their wage rates nor working conditions. The ESRI report found that non-national workers were on an average hourly wage rate of 22% less than that of Irish workers.
Which similarly begs the question as to whether the state and the society is being driven by the needs of an economy increasingly dominated and at the whim of external forces, or whether the needs of the economy and its overseas components ought to be serving the interests of Irish society and the best interests of the Irish people.
These are perhaps questions that might be debated sensibly here before the decisions and their consequences are made by those same external forces.
Loading ...
There is a massive demand for low wage workers, satisfying this with cheap imports is not the answer. This demand could be quenched by allowing wages to rise.
Mass employment is clearly not much better for society than mass unemployment. It takes away peoples ability to get a home and start a family. It promotes emigration. It diminishes public services, destroys towns and increases alienation.
Optimized employment should be the objective.
Make the system work for the benefit of the Irish.
It should be mandatory for only citizens and work visa carrying individuals to have pps numbers. Utter shit this is.
A lot get in through the work visa system just to get their foot into Ireland, here to join others from their country. A lot of brown people in the junk food industry. Do the Irish need all these junk food kips dotted all over Dublin? My answer is no. Nothing worse than these delivery riders darting in front of people with thrash on their backs to bucks in bed, too lazy to walk up the street for it. The bags often thrown on the ground outside the food kip. A very greasy, lazy ghetto type culture, that should be curtailed for health reasons and for raising the standards of our streetscape. They bring the bags on their backs home, many living in slums, no hygiene regulations, overcrowding. Pubs are strictly regulated, so should junk food. It is an industry that is not there for anyone’s welfare. These workers in this useless industry are taking up rented accomodation that the Irish need. Brazilians have not been mentioned but there were supposedly 39,556 Brazilian born people here in 2022. According to their consulate 50,000 in 2020. When you hear a Brazilian saying, I love Ireland, I will never leave Ireland, there is something wrong with our regulatory system. The low wages the workers get in this industry is on par for the job, no qualifications needed, no hygiene standards needed, all a race to the bottom to bring Ireland down even more. Then drugs. These bag carriers supposedly sell drugs. I certainly know they take drugs. We need to raise our standards, limit the numbers of these outlets and send these people that we don’t want, home. If they had a conscience, they would not be here, taking up our valuable accomodation, in the midst of a savage housing crisis.