Managing Migration in Ireland - European Commission - Europa

ecent trends inimmigration to ireland 19in the service industry, and a further 24 per cent for employment in catering,followed by agriculture and fisheries (11 per cent). A total of 1,317 work visas/authorizationswere issued in 2004.UNHCR estimated that over 7,200 refugees were living in Ireland in 2004, andnearly 3,700 asylum seekers were awaiting determination of their status (UNHCR,2005). As noted above, the number of people arriving to claim asylum in Irelandincreased substantially over the past decade, peaked in 2002 and has fallen sinceto 4,766 in 2004. Yet more than half fail to attend their first interview with theRefugee Applications Commissioner (DJELR, 2003). It is thought that many go on,or back, to the United Kingdom.Education Ireland has estimated that there are at least 18,608 internationalstudents currently registered at recognized higher education institutions, the vastmajority from non-EU countries (Education Ireland, 2004). The European Unionaccounts for 33 per cent of international students, and the United States for 16 percent. Other significant sending countries are China (15%) and Malaysia (7%). However,these figures are not thought to be exhaustive, as the government agencyrelies upon survey responses for institutions, and has noted that foundationcolleges, colleges offering awards from other jurisdictions, colleges offeringe-learning programmes and colleges offering awards that were neither recognizedin Ireland nor internationally, were not included in the estimate. The numberof persons arriving in Ireland to study has increased dramatically over the pastfew years, increasing by 19 per cent between 2003 and 2004 alone (EducationIreland, 2004).2.8 Return MigrantsA considerable proportion of migrants in Ireland are in fact returning Irishnationals. Between 1994 and 1997, there was a net inflow of 16,400 into Ireland,made up of returning migrants and non-Irish immigrants in roughly equalproportions (Barrett, 2002). The figure for returning Irish migrants peaked in 1999and has been falling in recent years, (OECD, 2004). In addition, some of thosemigrants classified as foreign-born are the children of returning Irish migrants,(CSO population and migration estimates). It is likely that the proportion of returningIrish migrants will continue to fall as the available “pool” of returning Irishmigrants is shrinking (since emigration has fallen), although the size of the Irishdiaspora remains large. During the 1980s, highly educated people were more likelyto emigrate and therefore it is not surprising that returnees have significantlyhigher levels of educational attainment and tend to be aged 25-44 rather than 15-25(Barrett, 2002). Irish research suggests that returning migrants even had higherlevels of education on average than the emigrants of the 1980s as a whole (ibid).Return migration had a number of positive effects on the Irish economy in the1990s. First, the inflow led to an increased level of GNP, and second, it reduced thewages of skilled workers relative to what they would have been in the absence ofimmigration. This is due to the fact that many returnees were skilled workers(Barrett, 2002). Third, the earnings of returnees exceeded those of comparablenon-migrants, at least for men, suggesting increased human capital and a positivecontribution to the Irish economy (Barrett et al., 2002).