EMN Asylum and Migration Overview (AMO) 2024 published, detailing key legal, policy, and operational changes

  The European Migration Network (EMN) has published its new EMN Asylum and Migration Overview (AMO) 2024, alongside a Statistical Annex developed by Eurostat. The Overview highlights key legal, policy, and operational changes across a range of asylum and migration themes during the year 2024, as well as statistical trends in 2024 and comparisons with previous years. It draws on contributions from … Read More

Ireland’s National Implementation Plan made publicly available

  One of the first submissions to the European Commission that Member States must make as a part of their formal preparations for the implementation of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact is the National Implementation Plan (NIP). The National Implementation Plan is intended to give an outline of how Member States plan to approach the necessary legislative, technological and … Read More

New EMN Inform published on access to remedies for international protection applicants

  The European Migration Network (EMN) has just published ‘Access to remedies for international protection applicants’, providing a detailed examination of how EMN Member Countries organise their first instance appeals procedures. This EMN Inform delivers a comprehensive comparative analysis, reflecting on procedural safeguards, key challenges, and good practices observed across the EU. This assessment supports the EU’s Pact on Migration … Read More

Latest CSO data on arrivals from Ukraine shows slowing rate of increase

  On 19 February 2025, the CSO released the 15th in their Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland series. According to the latest data, there were 112,189 Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from Ukraine in Ireland who were issued a PPSN. Of this number, 71% (79,654) had administrative activity after 30 November 2024 which could indicate that nearly 30% of those arrivals … Read More

2024 statistics on employment permits released

  On 2 January 2025, the Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment released statistics on employment permits for 2024. There was a total of 39,390 permits issued, 2,456 were refused, and 1,064 were withdrawn. Since 2021 there have been some fluctuations in the number of employment permits issued. While 2024 saw an increase of a little over 8,000 from the … Read More

New joint EMN-OECD inform examines innovative strategies to attract foreign talent

  The latest joint European Migration Network (EMN) – OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) inform examines new and innovative ways to attract foreign talent used by EMN Member Countries and selected non-EMN OECD countries, covering the period January 2021 and March 2024. Based on input from 21 EMN Member Countries and data provided by the OECD, on OECD … Read More

Legislative changes to process for revocation of citizenship of naturalised citizens  

On 23 July 2024, changes were made to the process for the revocation of citizenship of naturalised citizens  by the Court, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024. These amendments follow a 2021 Supreme Court judgment which found the current citizenship revocation process to be unconstitutional as it was not sufficiently independent and lacked appropriate safeguards for … Read More

EMN publishes Annual Report on Migration and Asylum 2023

The European Migration Network has just published its Annual Report on Migration and Asylum. This report provides statistical data and an overview of the most significant legal and policy developments in the European Union Member States and EMN Observer Countries in 2023. Key Findings The report presents a number of key findings such as the political agreement reached in December … Read More

Beneficiaries of international protection face challenges leaving government accommodation, research finds

Research published today by EMN Ireland/ESRI found that a large number of beneficiaries of international protection are struggling to move out of government-provided accommodation into autonomous housing. As of January 2024, almost 6,000 people with international protection status who could in principle move on to autonomous housing were living in government-provided International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation. This was approximately … Read More

New EMN inform examines labour market integration of beneficiaries of temporary protection

Labour market integration is crucial for people to rebuild their lives following forced displacement and attain stable livelihoods. It also decreases costs for the host societies. A joint EMN-OECD inform examines the labour market integration of beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) across 24 EMN Member and Observer Countries and compares data, policies and measures to facilitate such integration. Employment of beneficiaries of … Read More

Attitudes towards immigration remain largely positive in Ireland despite some recent declines, ESRI research finds

  On 22 March 2024, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published new research which found that attitudes in Ireland towards refugees and immigration remain largely positive, both compared with previous data on attitudes in Ireland and compared with other European countries. However, the research also found that some attitudes became less positive in the last 6 months of … Read More

New measures to expedite international protection application processing announced

  On 30 January,  the Department of Justice announced new measures to expedite international protection application processing. As of 31 January, Algeria and Botswana will be considered as designated safe countries of origin for the purpose of making a claim for international protection in Ireland. The changes were made following a review of safe countries of origin in the context … Read More

Political agreement reached on key parts of the Pact on Migration and Asylum

On 20 December political agreement was reached by the European Parliament and the Council on key proposals under the Pact on Migration and Asylum. The agreement covers five key proposed Regulations: Screening Regulation: creating uniform rules concerning the identification of non-EU nationals upon their arrival, thus increasing the security within the Schengen area. Eurodac Regulation: developing a common database gathering … Read More

EMN Ireland publishes Annual Report on Migration and Asylum in Ireland 2022

Today the European Migration Network (EMN) Ireland published its Annual Report on Migration and Asylum in Ireland 2022. With an overview of the latest data as well as policy and operational developments, research, and case law from 2022, this report is a comprehensive reference that gives an opportunity to view the entire migration landscape in Ireland. The report shows that … Read More

One in ten of the population are non-Irish citizens, census 2022 figures show

  On 26th October, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released Profile 5 Diversity, Migration, Ethnicity, Irish Travellers and Religion of the 2022 Census. Profile 5 looks at the diversity of the population in Ireland, including country of citizenship, ethnic group or background, and languages spoken. Patterns of immigration in the year leading up to the census, Irish Travellers and religion … Read More

New data on arrivals from Ukraine in CSO’s latest release

  On the 24 October 2023 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the eleventh report in the Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland series. The figures related to the numbers of arrivals are based on Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) allocations to people protected under the Temporary Protection Directive, as of the week ending 08 October 2023. Summary of arrivals In … Read More

Ombudsman for Children’s Office publishes first Special Report on the Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision

  On Tuesday 19th October 2023, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) published a Special Report on the Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision. It is the first report of its kind since the OCO was established in 2004. The Special Report highlights concern regarding the lack of progress on its previous three recommendations, which were issued in … Read More

New legislation relaxes requirements for naturalisation and removes option to leave voluntarily for deportees with serious offence convictions

  The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023, which commenced on 2 August 2023, contains a range of amendments and updates to law related to Irish nationality and citizenship, civil liability, bankruptcy, legal services, immigration, international protection, and more. Regarding citizenship and migration, the Act makes a number of significant changes to existing law and procedures. Children born … Read More