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IRELAND SAW A significant fall in overall immigration this year, with net migration dropping by 25% compared to the previous year.
The data, published today in the European Migration Network’s (EMN’s) latest annual report, outlines that there were fewer new arrivals across most migration channels and major reforms to employment permit rules.
However, while most types of immigration fell, there was a surge in asylum applications which reached a record high.
The report found a deepening accommodation crisis in the asylum system, which left almost 6,000 people without somewhere to stay on arrival in Ireland.
Net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number of people emigrating from Ireland) was 59,700 in the year to April 2025, the report says, a decrease of 25% on the previous year.
Looking specifically at immigration, the CSO estimates that 125,300 people immigrated to Ireland in the year to April 2025, a 16% decrease on the previous year.
The fall was largely driven by the dramatic reduction in arrivals from Ukraine, which had surged in 2022 and 2023 after the Russian invasion.
Only 9,558 Ukrainians were allocated PPS numbers in 2024, down 71% on 2023.
By 29 December 2024, more than 111,000 PPS numbers had been allocated to arrivals from Ukraine since February 2022.
“When you look at that graph of the three years beside each other, it’s a really dramatic drop-off,” EMN report author Keire Murphy said.
“Most people who fled Ukraine left early in the war, that’s the pattern across Europe. What we’re seeing now is just a trickle.”
The reduction helped ease demand for state-provided accommodation, one of the system’s biggest pressure points since 2022.
First residence permits (permits issued to non-European citizens that want to stay in Ireland for more than three months) also fell by 10%.
While immigration dropped overall, international protection applications rose 40% in 2024 to 18,561, the highest on record.
Applications from Jordan surged from 70 in 2023 to 2,860, making it one of the top three countries of origin alongside Nigeria and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, numbers from Algeria fell by 81%.
Murphy said the rise in asylum applications was not connected to the fall in wider immigration.
“They’re driven by very different factors,” she said.
“It’s not unusual for them to move independently of each other.”
While overall immigration is driven largely by work, education, and family reunification, asylum applications tend to reflect people seeking protection from conflict or persecution.
The report also paints a stark picture of the state’s capacity to process and accommodate applicants.
5,933 people were not offered accommodation on arrival in 2024, the highest level seen so far.
“At no point in 2024 was every new applicant accommodated on arrival,” the report notes.
By December 2024, more than 2,190 people were still awaiting an offer of accommodation.
Murphy said 2024 was “very much a story of continual worsening,” but noted that arrivals have fallen in early 2025, which has begun to ease pressure.
Processing times for international protection applicants also increased.
The median wait for an IPO decision was 16 months, up from 11 months in 2023.
Accelerated cases were completed within three months, but other cases faced significantly longer delays.
The backlog of asylum applications continued to rise, with 30,935 cases pending at the end of 2024.
2024 also saw a sharp rise in the number of children seeking protection. There were 5,225 child applicants, an 81% increase on 2023.
Among them were 619 unaccompanied minors, including 209 from Ukraine.
Tusla faced “significant capacity challenges,” the report notes, and relied heavily on special emergency arrangements, including private B&B accommodation.
Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspections raised concerns in several cases.
“It’s presenting big capacity challenges for Tusla in trying to scale up the level needed,” Murphy said.
Despite the fall in first permits, Ireland issued 39,390 employment permits in 2024, a 27% increase on 2023 and close to the 2022 peak.
Health and social care permits continued to dominate, accounting for 32% of all permits, followed by information and communication technology at 17%.
India remained the top country of origin for workers coming to Ireland, followed by Brazil, the Philippines, China and Pakistan.
Murphy pointed to government reforms as a factor behind the number of work permits.
Ireland’s employment permit system saw major changes last year with the Employment Permits Act, the largest overhaul of the permits scheme since 2006.
The law, which took effect in September, is designed to make the system more flexible in response to labour shortages.
Key reforms include allowing general and critical skills (IT, engineering or healthcare jobs where there is a shortage of staff) permit holders to change employers without applying for a new permit, and the creation of a seasonal employment permit for short-term roles.
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