Immigration reaches record levels

Immigration to Ireland has reached record levels, according to the latest estimates from the Central Statistics Office. More than 44,000 people came to live in the State in the year to last April, more than at any time in the history of the State.

But the CSO estimates that returned Irish emigrants make up half this figure. They are responding to the call of home in numbers not seen since the 1970s.

With emigration dropping slightly, the net migration - the surplus of immigration over emigration - to Ireland has doubled in the space of a year. The net inflow of 15,000 is the highest since the late 1970s.

Migration is now almost as important a factor as natural increase - the excess of births over deaths - in explaining Ireland's growing population. Last year, the population grew by 34,500, to 3.66 million. The creation of new jobs has increased Ireland's attraction as a desirable place to live for many foreigners.

Immigration by country of origin shows that 20,000 of the 44,000 immigrants are from the UK; more than 8,000 are from the EU; 6,000 from the US and 9,000 are from the "rest of the world". The latter includes the developing countries from which most asylum-seekers are drawn.

The Department of Justice says about 3,000 people have applied for asylum so far this year.

The latest labour force survey, which was also released by the CSO yesterday, shows massive increases in the number at work and a drop in unemployment. The CSO says many Irish emigrants are being attracted back to Ireland by the improved job situation.

In the construction industry alone, for example, an additional 10,000 have been employed, and many of these are believed to be emigrants returned from Britain. It is believed that between 5,000 and 10,000 of last year's immigrants are in the labour force.

Emigration remains surprisingly high. In spite of the hype about the "Celtic Tiger", 29,000 Irish people left the country last year. This is only 2,000 fewer than the year before. In the late 1980s, emigration exceeded 70,000 at one point, but the highest level recorded in this decade was 35,000, in 1993.

Most emigrants are young - under 24 - and almost half go to Britain. The CSO has no information on their levels of education, but other research indicates that the majority are poorly educated and poorly equipped for the changes involved in starting life in a new country.

The population shifts pose a major challenge for schools. More than 6,000 under-15s immigrated last year, while only 700 left the State. While the overall school population is falling as the population ages, these figures are likely to encourage teacher unions to resist the rationalisation of primary schools.

The figure for immigration is the highest since the CSO started keeping records a decade ago.