Study finds migrants in Ireland mix well with general population
Migrants who move to Ireland have been found to mix well with the general population.
New ESRI research has found the levels of integration here are higher than other Western European countries and the US.
The data, which was gathered using census information from 2011 and 2016, also found the majority of migrants tend to live in the cities and in richer areas with good access to third-level education.
The study found that around half of migrants live in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and in areas with good private rental accommodation.
Today Minister @davidstantontd launches new ESRI research funded by @DeptJusticeIRL. It finds that migrants are not concentrated in areas of disadvantage and are fairly evenly distributed across neighbourhoods in Ireland. https://t.co/dWn4HyHRIi #ESRIpublications pic.twitter.com/FgtLZ5nPj1
— Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) (@ESRIDublin) June 26, 2019
This has been highlighted as a concern as it would expose migrants to "the current problems of affordability and security of tenure in this sector of the housing market."
The study also revealed that non-EU migrants "tend to live in areas of above-average unemployment" while those with poor English language skills "are less likely to live in areas with a high prevalence of graduates."
Professor Helen Russell, one of the report authors, said: "From an integration perspective it is reassuring that migrants are not concentrated in areas of disadvantage and are relatively evenly spread across communities.
"That said, pockets of concentration of groups with additional language needs in some locations may create challenges for local service delivery and these Census data can be used to target resources needed."
