IMMIGRANTS AND FOREIGN-BORN residents in Ireland make a higher fiscal contribution than Irish-born residents, fully financing their share of public services, according to a new study.

The Economic and Social Research Instutute (ESRI) has published two reports, funded by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, which examine the impact of immigration on public funds and welfare receipt rates among immigrants in Ireland.

This report uses nationally representative data from the Central Statistics Office to assess whether immigrants in Ireland are more or less likely to be in receipt of social welfare payments compared to Irish-born people.

Overall, the findings show that there is no general pattern of immigrants being more likely to be in receipt of welfare compared to the Irish-born, as receipt varies across groups and payment types, and the differences are generally small.

The report focuses on the impact of migrants on public finances, rather than the impact of migration on the economy and generally does not reflect the broader effects of migration on the economy or labour market.

This is a change from the just after the recession caused by the 2008 crash, when both foreign-born and Irish-born residents had a negative fiscal contribution, due to budget deficits.

Instead, on average over the last 20 years, foreign-born residents have “made a higher fiscal contribution than Irish-born residents,” said the ESRI in its new report.

Welfare data

The ESRI examined a broad set of payments that includes unemployment, sickness/disability and family/children-related welfare payments (including universal child benefit) as part of the study.

It found that 56% of Irish-born people received at least one of these payments in 2024, compared to 61% of immigrants.

As this includes universal payments reflecting different family structures, a more nuanced picture emerges when we look in greater detail at specific payments and demographic factors.

When looking at specific payments, such as unemployment-related payments, the report found either no difference between immigrants and the native-born (9% for both) or slightly lower rates of receipt among immigrants (disability benefit rates of 4% and 6% for the Irish-born).

The ESRI said a “more complicated picture” emerges when immigrants were separated by global regions of birth.

So, while the unemployment-related payments rate for the Irish-born over the period 2014 to 2024 was 16%, this was lower for immigrants from the EU-West (13%) and Asia (12%) but higher for EU-East (21%) and Africa (21%).

Looking at unemployment, sickness and disability payments combined, and controlling for socio-economic characteristics, the analysis shows that immigrants from the UK and the EU-East have higher rates of receipt, but immigrants from the EU-West have lower rates compared to the Irish-born.

“No differences are found when comparing the native born to immigrants from Asia and Africa,” the ESRI study added.

The ESRI added that the results show that there is “no overall evidence of a systematic difference” in welfare receipt rates between immigrants and the Irish‑born.

It noted that previous research shows that some groups of immigrants experience labour market challenges and that providing supports can be valuable in aiding exits from welfare.

“Such interventions can be viewed as part of the broader suite of supports which are offered to all eligible people, both Irish-born and immigrants,” the ESRI said.

In Ireland, migrants are younger and, on average, more likely to be employed than the non-migrant population, contributing to their positive fiscal impact.

The “most positive” fiscal impact was found through work-related migration.

In general, non-EU migrants in Ireland were found to have a very high employment and tertiary education rates.