No general pattern exists of immigrants being more likely to be in receipt of social welfare compared to native-born Irish citizens, an ESRI report on welfare receipt rates has found.
The report used data from the Central Statistics Office to assess whether immigrants in Ireland are more or less likely to be in receipt of welfare payments compared to Irish-born people.
It examined a broad set of payments including unemployment, sickness/disability and family/children-related welfare payments, including universal child benefit.
In 2024, 56% of the Irish-born received at least one of these payments compared to 61% of immigrants.
However, the report said that because universal payments reflect different family structures, a more nuanced picture emerges regarding specific payments and demographic factors.
On unemployment-related payments, both immigrants and the native-born had an equal claim rate of 9%.
For disability benefit, immigrants had rates of 4% compared to a rate of 6% for the Irish-born.
The ESRI said a more complicated picture emerged when immigrants were separated by global regions of birth.
For unemployment-related payments, the rate of receipt for the Irish-born over the period 2014 to 2024 was 16%.
The rates of receipt are lower for immigrants from EU-West (13%) and Asia (12%) but higher for EU-East (21%) and Africa (21%).
A second ESRI report, reviewing the international literature on the impact of immigration on public funds has found that on average over the last 20 years, foreign-born residents have made a higher fiscal contribution than Irish-born residents.
The ESRI said fiscal impact varies by sub-group, with work-related migration generally having the most positive fiscal impact.
In Ireland, migrants are younger and, on average, more likely to be employed than the non-migrant population, contributing to their positive fiscal impact.
Non-EU migrants in Ireland were found to have very high employment and tertiary education rates, which according to the report meant they have a higher fiscal impact in Ireland compared to non-migrants.
Both reports were funded by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.
