Immigrants not more likely to receive welfare than Irish-born
There is no overall evidence that immigrants are more likely to be in receipt of welfare compared to the Irish-born, a new ESRI report has found.
Social transfers utilisation among migrants and Irish-born in Ireland, published in June 2026, finds the rates of receipt for unemployment-related payments were recorded at 9 per cent for both immigrants and the Irish-born. For disability benefits, the Irish-born had a receipt rate of 6 per cent while it was 4 per cent for immigrants.
The report also says the high rates of receipt for unemployment, sickness/disability, and family/children-related payments were driven by family payments. This includes the universal child benefit with the rate of receipt found to be 58 per cent for immigrants and 47 per cent for the Irish-born.
The report states that 56 per cent of Irish-born received at least one of payments for unemployment, sickness/disability, and family/children-related payments. This compares with 61 per cent of immigrants.
The report notes that this includes universal payments reflecting different family structures and notes that “a more nuanced picture emerges when we look in greater detail at specific payments and demographic factors”.
Between 2014 and 2024, immigrants have generally had higher employment rates than the Irish-born and they have also had higher unemployment rates. The report says this is possible because “immigrants have also tended to have higher rates of labour force participation”. In other words, immigrants have a lower share of inactive population within the working-age population.
The report contextualises the research, stating: “Immigration has always been a controversial issue, with suggestions that immigrants place burdens on the populations of receiving countries in terms of taking jobs, depressing wages, and occupying limited housing supply.
“In recent times, there appears to have been a marked increase, both in Ireland and elsewhere, in negative views of immigration based in part on the idea that immigrants draw heavily on aspects of the modern welfare state such as benefit payments, healthcare, and other social supports.”
Differences between regions
The report asserts that “a more complicated picture emerges when we separate immigrants by regions of birth”. Between 2014 and 2024, the rate of receipt of unemployment welfare payments by the Irish-born was 16 per cent. Rates of receipt are lower for immigrants from EU West (13 per cent) and Asia (12 per cent). They are higher for EU East (21 per cent) and Africa (21 per cent).
They report shows that when payments for unemployment, sickness, and disability are combined, immigrants from the UK and the EU East have higher rates of receipt. However, immigrants from the EU West have lower rates. There is no difference when the Irish-born are compared with immigrants from Asia and Africa.
For contributory-based payments of unemployment, sickness, and disability welfare, there are higher rates of receipt for immigrants from the EU and lower rates for those from the EU West, Asia, and Africa. Contributory payments are those which can only be accessed when the required social insurance payments have been made and are not means tested.
For non-contributory payments, there are higher rates of receipt for immigrants from the EU East and Africa. Non-contributory payments do not require prior histories of social insurance payments.
The ESRI states: “Immigrants from the EU East are generally found to have higher rates of receipt compared to the native-born.”
It says the adjusted differential is minimal in the case of some payments and that it disappears when unemployment payments to those unemployed at the time of the survey are considered.
This contrasts with Immigrants and welfare receipt in Ireland, published in 2013, which found immigrants from the EU East had much lower rates compared to the Irish-born. The ESRI says similar changes across other groups are not as evident. It notes that the demographic of immigrants from the EU East “is now older, with more females and more children”.
The report finds that the proportion of working-age Ukrainians receiving working age supports fell from 70 per cent in mid-2022 to just over 40 per cent in mid-2025. It also says the number of Ukrainians on housing supports rose through early 2024, but has “declined continuously since”.
Stating that there is no general trend that immigrants are more likely than the Irish-born to receive welfare payments, the report adds: “This mixed pattern suggests that any efforts to assist immigrants in exiting welfare should continue to be the same as the efforts directed at the native-born whereby the specific circumstances of individuals should be addressed to the greatest possible extent.”
