According to the 2006 Census the number of non-Irish nationals living in Ireland now stands at 420,000 people, or 10 per cent of the population. This is almost double the number of non-nationals in living in Ireland than was the case four years ago.
Of the total, UK citizens accounted for most at just over 112,500 people followed by Polish citizens at over 63,000 people. Lithuania accounts for 24,638, while there are 16,300 Nigerians and 13,319 Latvians now living in Ireland.
While Poland and Lithuania account for the majority of new residents for the 10 new EU member states, the total number of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe account for well in access of 100,000 people. The census figures are the first accurate picture of the numbers of foreign nationals who are now resident in Ireland.
According to a recent report on RTE’s Radio’s Morning Ireland programme Poland, which at 14 per cent, has the highest level of unemployment in the EU. It continues to lose its young skilled professionals at a very worrying rate. Mirroring the Irish experience in the 70s and 80s young skilled professionals are looking to countries such as Ireland and the UK to find good pay and experience.
Irish architecture, engineering and QS practices are opening up their arms to attract them, many practices travelling to Poland and other countries to recruit new staff. The RTE programme stated that a staggering one million people have left Poland since 2001. And even though some sectors of the Polish construction industry have experience wage inflation of 100 per cent in the past 12 months, this is not deterring young people from seeking better opportunities abroad. In response to the exodus Polish companies are now looking to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and China to find new staff.
Of the 85,000 new jobs created in Ireland in 2006, immigrants took up sixty per cent of them.