Number of international protection applications increased by 415% in 2022
Immigration to Ireland “rose significantly” in the year to April 2023, with some 141,600 people arriving. Picture: Dominic McGrath/PA Wire
A total of 13,651 applications for international protection were made in Ireland in 2022, a 415% increase on the total number of applications made in 2021, according to a new report.
Immigration to Ireland “rose significantly” in the year to April 2023, with some 141,600 people arriving. This was a 31% increase on the total recorded over the same period one year previously. About 20,000 of arrivals to April were returning Irish emigrants.
The statistics are included in the European Migration Network of Ireland (EMN)’s annual report for 2022.
The EMN is an European Union network which works within the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and conducts research on migration and international protection. Its annual report seeks to provide an overview of migration, asylum trends and policy developments in Ireland.
Citing CSO figures, the EMN report also noted emigration had also increased up to April of this year, with 64,000 people leaving the country, up 14% from the year before.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU triggered its Temporary Protection Directive for the first time.
The directive is an exceptional measure providing immediate and temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons unable to return to their country of origin.
Under the directive, some 67,448 people had arrived in Ireland from Ukraine as of December 2022.
Of these arrivals, 46% were adult women and just over one-third (34%) were children aged up to 19. The remaining one-fifth (20%) were adult men.
The 67,448 arrivals from Ukraine represented 47.6% the 141,600 arrivals to Ireland up until this past April.
The top five countries of origin among international protection applicants were Georgia (20%), Algeria (13%), Somalia (12%), Nigeria (8%), and Zimbabwe (7%).
Ireland’s total of 13,651 applications was the highest number on record. It also accounted for 1.3% of the European Union total last year.
Citing ESRI research, the EMN said the overall increase in international protection applications was likely a result of the end of covid travel restrictions, instability and conditions in countries of origin and "a minor deflection effect from the United Kingdom, and long-term social network effects".
Last year also saw a significant increase in the issuing first-residence permits, which are granted to migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Overall, 85,793 permits were issued, a 146% increase from 2021 and a 45% increase on 2019, the last comparable year before the introduction of covid restrictions here. Education accounted for almost half of all issued permits (48%) followed by ‘other reasons’ (24%) and employment (23%).
Ireland’s issued permits accounted for 2.49% of the EU’s total.
- The EMN's full annual report can be read here.
