An analysis carried out by the Central Statistics Office shows that the number of foreign nationals who were assigned personal public service numbers (PPSNs) fell in 2007.
The CSO carried out an analysis based on records from Revenue and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
The CSO report shows that 215,300 PPSNs were allocated to foreign nationals in 2007, down from 226,800 in 2006. This was mainly due to a drop of more than 25,000 in the number given to people from the 10 countries which joined the EU in 2004.
These still accounted for just over half of the total for 2007, however, with the number of arrivals from Poland the highest at 79,700. The UK was next, followed by Romania and Lithuania.
Of the 188,755 foreign nationals aged 15 or over who were given PPSNs in 2007, 43% had no employment up to the end of that year.
The CSO looked at patterns of employment from 2002. These showed the rate of employment for people from euro zone countries (excluding Ireland and the UK) who were given PPSNs was very high for the first year, but dropped off sharply. The CSO says this shows that the vast majority were no longer working in Ireland after a few years.
But for people from the 10 new EU 2004 countries, the employment level drops off at a much slower rate. Of the 58,100 who entered the system in 2004, 79% had employment activity during the year of arrival and 59% still had some work in 2007.
But of the total of 118,000 of working age who were given PPSNs in 2004, only 45% had insurable employment at any time during 2007.
