One in five unemployed people in the country last year were non-Irish nationals, according to 2011 Census figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
There were almost 80,000 unemployed non nationals in Ireland last year, up from some 30,000 in 2006.
According to the CSO the rate of unemployment among non Irish people in 2011 was 22 percent compared with a rate of 18.5 percent among Irish people.
Nigerians had the highest unemployment rate amongst non nationals at 39 per cent while nationals from the Nordic countries had the lowest rates.
Among Eastern European nationals Lithuanian had an unemployment rate of 24 percent while the rate for Polish nationals was slightly lower at 21 percent.
Over 53,000 people moved to Ireland in the year leading up to April 2011 and of these 47,111 were aged 15 or over, with just over 37 per cent of this group being Irish.
Unemployment among these Irish immigrants stood at just over 33 per cent compared with a lower rate of 26 per cent for non-Irish immigrants.
Accommodation and food services sectors had the largest number of non nati0nal employees in 2011 with the wholesale and retail and IT sectors close behind.
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