John Deasy
Question:690. Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the levels of immigration of non-nationals into the country in each of the past five years. [26603/13]
View answerTuesday, 11 June 2013
Questions (690)
Written answers
EEA nationals, of which many thousands reside in the State and who are subject to EU freedom of movement legislation, are not required to seek permission to reside in the State and accordingly the immigration authorities do not maintain statistics on the numbers of such persons present here. Non-EEA nationals, subject to certain exemptions such as persons under the age of 16, who have permission to reside in the State are obliged to register their presence in the State. Based on the figures available from the register of non-nationals, the number of non-EEA nationals granted permission to reside in the State for the first time in the period 2008 to 2012, inclusive, was 130,128. For the purpose of context, the Deputy may wish to note that Census 2011 showed that overall Ireland's non-Irish national population accounts for 12% of the national population or some 544,000 people, the majority being from EEA countries.