The number of foreign-born people in Ireland could exceed one million by 2030 compared with 400,000 at the time of the last census in 2002, a conference in Dublin will be told this morning.
This total would amount to about 18 per cent of Ireland's population in 2030.
Aidan Punch of the Central Statistics Office will present this analysis at the 17th annual Cori social policy conference.
On the theme "Securing Fairness and Wellbeing in a Land of Plenty", the event is organised by the justice commission of the Conference of Religious of Ireland.
Mr Punch will tell the conference that the number of one-person households in the Republic is projected to increase from more than 270,000 to half a million by 2030. Generally, the downward trend in average household size is also likely to continue over the next 25 years.
This could result in there being about two million private households in the Republic by 2030.
It is also projected that 75 per cent of people in the State would live in an urban area by 2030, compared to 60 per cent in 2002.
Mr Punch will ask if the pursuance of maximum growth should continue to be an economic goal. The alternative of aligning economic growth with the State's ability to supply the labour force from domestic sources ought to be considered, he will suggest.
Domestic sources of labour could achieve growth rates of 3 to 4 per cent with allowance being made for productivity gains. However, persisting with the present policy would put further pressure on an already over-stretched infrastructure.