More than half of all voters say that Ireland should continue to accept all Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Ireland and two-thirds say they would be happy to have Ukrainian refugees in their locality, the latest Irish Times/Ipsos opinion poll shows.
While there are concerns that too many refugees from Ukraine have arrived, the results of Friday’s poll suggest that those concerns appear to have eased since last autumn.
Under half (48 per cent) of voters say there are “too many refugees in Ireland now”, while 43 per cent disagree. However, the numbers suggest that at least some of those who believe there are too many refugees here also believe that Ireland should keep taking them.
In a similar (though differently worded) Ipsos poll for The Irish Times last year, 60 per cent of voters said they were concerned about too many Ukrainians coming here, while just 36 per cent said that Ireland should continue to accept Ukrainians “no matter how many arrive”.
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A majority of voters (67 per cent) say they would be “happy to accommodate Ukrainian refugees in my locality” – with the majority rising to above 70 per cent in Dublin, Connacht-Ulster and among wealthier voters.
Despite recent focus on opposition to asylum seekers from other parts of the world, almost half of all voters (49 per cent) say they would be “happy to accommodate refugees from countries other than Ukraine in my locality”. But 43 per cent disagree, a significantly larger proportion than those who would not be happy with Ukrainians in the locality, which is just 26 per cent.
People fleeing the war in Ukraine are automatically accepted as bona fide refugees in Ireland and the rest of the EU, whereas people claiming refugee status – or asylum – have to go through a process where their claims are assessed. The State is obliged to accommodate them while their claim is being processed.
The poll was conducted among 1,200 adults at 120 sampling points across all constituencies between on June 11th-13th. Respondents were interviewed at their own homes. The accuracy is estimated at plus or minus 2.8 per cent.
