A surge in the number of migrants entering Ireland has resulted in it seeing its highest population growth since the 2008 banking crash.
A wave of over 120,000 migrants has resulted in Ireland seeing its largest yearly population growth since the 2008 banking crash, official statistics published on Wednesday have revealed.
With the statistics only taking into account demographic changes up to the end of April this year, it seems likely that this new post-crash record will not stand for long, with a further influx of migrants from both Ukraine and beyond pushing the country’s infrastructure to breaking point.
According to the figures published by the country’s Central Statistics Office, a massive 120,700 migrants entered the country in the twelve-month period ending in April 2022, something the government agency describes as being a 15-year record.
Of this influx, 63,000 were neither from the European Union nor the United Kingdom, with 28,000 recorded as migrants allegedly from Ukraine.
Overall, the Statistics Office now claims that there are around 5.1 million people living in Ireland, over 700,000 of whom are recorded as being non-Irish nationals.
The massive surge in the number of foreign migrants in Ireland is unsurprising considering the extremely liberal attitude of the country’s government towards borders.
For example, the country’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, has repeatedly insisted that the country’s so-called “humanitarian” open borders response to the war in Ukraine trumped any security concern posed by a limitless influx of unidentifiable foreign nationals, despite the neighbouring United Kingdom expressing concern that Martin’s lax attitude could end up also putting Britain’s security in jeopardy due to the fact that the two nations share an open border arrangement.
What’s more, the Irish government has also launched a near-blanket illegal migrant amnesty that, in principle, would allow migrants with criminal records to remain in the country, and even be put on the pathway to becoming fully-fledged Irish citizens.
Ultimately, the country’s liberal policies and attitudes have resulted in an influx of migrants so large that it now threatens the integrity of the country’s infrastructure, with a secret memo presented to ministers back in May describing the policy platform as now risking Ireland’s “social cohesion“.
The state is now planning to spend over €1 billion on Ukrainian migrants alone — a decision that has been branded as “outrageous” due to those already in the country suffering greatly under a housing and cost-of-living crisis, with as many as 70 per cent of households expected to be plunged into energy poverty if energy prices double over the coming months.
“It’s an outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money,” Hermann Kelly, the head of the populist Irish Freedom Party, previously said in regards to the government’s decision to funnel these funds towards migrants.
“As demand for housing and rents increase the government sends out search parties for more migrants,” he continued.
“It’s wrong-headed madness. Ireland is full and we simply have nowhere to put these people.”
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