ESRI research finds people in Ireland support immigration

People in Ireland are supportive of immigration according to research by the Economic and Social Research Institute, however, some “attitudes became less positive” in the last 6 months of 2023.

Attitudes to immigration and refugees in Ireland: understanding recent trends and drivers, is part of a joint research programme on integration and equality between the ESRI and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability and Youth (DCEDIY).

The ESRI has used data gathered by the Department last year found that the “overwhelming majority” reported that they are positive about immigration.

It has noted “a sharp and substantial rise” in the salience or importance of migration to respondents in Ireland, measured by the proportion of people who say immigration is one of the top two most important issues facing Ireland: from 3% in July 2022 to 14% in June and November 2023.

This compares to 56% of people who say housing is one of the two most important issues facing Ireland.

The ESRI also used Eurobarometer survey data to establish how positive people feel about immigration from the EU and immigration from outside the EU over the last ten years.

While attitudes towards both cohorts have become more positive since 2014, the report has noted “a slight decline” in that positivity more recently.

The proportion of people who were positive about immigration was at least 15 percentage points higher by the end of 2023 compared to 2014.

However, the report has noted a decline in Irish attitudes towards immigration when the years 2020 and 2023 are compared.

When it came to EU immigration, positive feelings decreased from a high of 92% in August 2020 to 85% in June 2023, but this decreased further to 82% by November last year.

There is a fear that the recent increase in migration, coming at a time of perceived strains on services, is leading to increasingly hostile attitudes towards immigrants and immigration, according to the report.

“Recent incidents have supported this idea, such as protests relating to a number of accommodation centres (in particular for asylum seekers), riots in Dublin city centre following the stabbing of young children that caused up to €20 million of damage, and arson attacks on hotels that were planned (or simply rumoured) to accommodate asylum seekers.”

While it states that these incidents “may not be reflective of the overall attitudinal climate”, it has pointed out that it is “increasingly urgent for policymakers to better understand Irish attitudes towards immigration and immigrants, and whether these have changed over time, as well as how they differ towards different groups, and what factors drive them”.

When it comes to immigration from non-EU countries, attitudes declined between 2019 and 2020, but then remained stable between August 2020 and June 2023 when 71% of people held positive views.

Since then, positivity towards non-EU immigration has decreased, declining by 6 percentage points between June and November 2023.

Education and perceived financial strain are some of the most consistent predictors of immigration attitudes and how comfortable people feel with different migrant groups: people with lower qualifications and those who find ‘making ends meet’ more difficult are less positive about immigration and immigrants.

Living in private rented accommodation is associated with more positive attitudes to immigrants and immigration, compared to living in owner-occupied accommodation.

A survey experiment also showed that those who identify as politically left-wing are more positive across some indicators, which the ESRI says “may indicate the emergence of a left-right split in attitudes to immigrants in Ireland”.

The report says people’s perceptions of the past and future are also associated with their immigration attitudes. Those who feel that their quality of life was better in the past or who have less confidence in the future are less positive about immigration overall and feel less comfortable with migrants in their everyday lives, especially with asylum seekers.

People concerned about access to housing and access to services are also somewhat less positive towards immigration than people concerned about racism, climate change or poverty in Ireland according to the report.

Despite recent declines in support for immigration, in November 2023, Ireland had some of the most positive attitudes towards immigration of all EU27 countries – ranked fourth most supportive of immigration among EU27 countries and the UK.

The ESRI has noted that similar declines in attitudes were seen previously in Ireland, such as between May 2017 and November 2017, before attitudes improved again.

Similarly, attitudes towards non-EU immigration declined by 6 percentage points from December 2019 to August 2020, before stabilising.

Therefore, the ESRI suggests that the recent trend “may be a temporary fluctuation”.