Figures for the new issues of Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers for the first two months of 2025 show that there was a sharp drop in the amount of issues compared to the same period last year which had seen a fall compared to January and February 2023.
The overall number of new PPS issues has, in fact, fallen since 2022 so it will be interesting to see whether the pattern set in January and February is maintained until the end of the year. In 2023 the total of PPS issues was 270,081 which fell to 231,028 in 2024.
There were 33,915 new PPS numbers issued up to the end of February which represented a drop of 13% on the same period in 2024.
That is partly accounted for by the slowing in the number of Ukrainian refugees although the vast majority of those who have arrived remain, and a substantial proportion of those already here have indicated in surveys that they intend to stay. There were 6,757 PPS numbers issued to Ukrainians in the first two months of 2023 but just 1,106 in the first two months of 2025.
The fall in issues has meant that while the number of PPS numbers issued to persons born in the state also fell, that the proportion issued to people of Irish birth – although many are to children of at least one migrant parent – increased from 28% in the first two months of 2024 to 31.4%.
Which is still a worrying demographic trend and indicative of the fact that the vast bulk of population increase is driven by migration – a combination of the net immigration of people from overseas and the net migration of persons born in the Irish state.
The most noticeable aspect of the statistics on PPS numbers is the ongoing decline in the absolute and relative numbers of persons who come to live in the Irish state from other EU states, from the UK or (in very small numbers) from other EEA countries. They accounted for just 26% of all issues.
By far the largest number of PPS issues continues to be issued to persons who are coming to Ireland from outside of the EU/EEA and UK. Only a small proportion of that figure of 14,411 were issued to persons who claimed International Protection in the state in January and February.
They accounted for just 2,176 or 15%. Some of the new issues may well have been to the dependents of persons already here and who were granted residency and a PPS number but the vast bulk of those coming here are clearly people who have either been issued with a work permit, and consequently a PPS number and a social welfare entitlement, or a smaller number of persons with student visas.
That can be seen from the statistics for work permits. What is also noticeable is the large gap between the numbers of work permits issued and the numbers of persons from outside of the EU/EEA who have been issued with PPS numbers.
For January and February there was a total of 14,411 such PPS issues but just 6,745 work permits issued in the same period. Which is proof that much of immigration from outside of Europe is composed not of persons who are coming here to work but of their dependents.
Which of course casts a rather different light on the claim that this is all an unquestioned fiscal positive.