What data tells us about International Protection Applicants

An analysis of the demographics and economic and social welfare activity of those seeking International Protection here from 2016 to 2024

The CSO recently conducted an analysis of demographics, economic activity and social welfare activity for people seeking International Protection in Ireland. We spoke to Cathal Doherty, Statistician in the CSO's Life Events and Demography Division, to get a better understanding of the people who are seeking International Protection in Ireland.

What is International Protection?

International Protection is granted by a government to someone who has left another country to escape being harmed. Applicants in Ireland can be granted residency under International Protection if they arrived to escape persecution in their own country or if they cannot return to their country because of a well-founded fear for their safety.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, the number of people applying for international protection has fallen by 43% in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2024

What analysis did the CSO do and who was included?

We looked at the beneficiaries of the Daily Expense Allowance (DEA), a social welfare benefit only available to International Protection applicants who live in, or are waiting to move into, accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).

This new methodology gave us insight on three main areas, Demographics, Economic Activity, and Social Welfare Activity. Our analysis looked at beneficiaries of the DEA for the years 2016 to 2024. Although this is a significant subset of all applicants of International Protection, it should be noted that not all International Protection applicants are beneficiaries of the allowance.

How many people were beneficiaries of the DEA?

We know that the number of applicants has been generally increasing in recent years. In 2022, the number of new beneficiaries of the DEA exceeded 10,000 for the first time, at 11,750 people. This number dropped to 10,252 people in 2023, before increasing again to 17,250 people in 2024.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Minister of State for Migration Colm Brophy on the Government's tougher approach to migration after the annual State spend on accommodating International Protection applicants in 2024 topped €1 billion for the first time

What do we know about the beneficiaries of the allowance?

We reviewed the age and sex of beneficiaries, and found the percentage share of women benefiting from the DEA was lower than men in every year that we looked at. The year with the highest proportion of women was 2019, when it stood at 43% of the total beneficiaries. In both 2022 and 2023, this figure was 34%.

In 2024, almost half of all beneficiaries were aged between 25 and 44 years. The next largest group was the youngest cohort, with nearly a quarter of the total aged under 15 years.

Which countries did the beneficiaries come from?

When considering the countries represented in our analysis, Nigeria, Jordan, Somalia, and Pakistan had more than 1,000 new people benefiting from the DEA in 2024. Other countries that had over 1,000 people in previous years were Algeria in both 2022 and 2023, and Georgia in 2022.

From RTÉ News, the Immigrant Council of Ireland call for national strategy on integration of migrants

We found there were consistent considerable increases in the number of beneficiaries from Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the periods of 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024. In contrast to this, there were considerable decreases recorded for Georgia and Zimbabwe during the same periods.

Jordan and the State of Palestine experienced minimal representation in 2022 with close to zero beneficiaries, but the number of beneficiaries grew to 2,766 and 877 respectively in 2024.

Are International Protection applicants allowed work in Ireland?

Yes, they can work if they have a Labour Market Access permit, which can only be granted once they have been in Ireland for at least six months (this was nine months until it was reduced in 2021). This resulting time lag was clearly evident in the data we explored, as the percentage of applicants who entered the labour market increased dramatically in the years after their first year of DEA commencement.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, ESRI's Keire Murphy on their report which finds migrants are more likely to be working compared to the Irish-born population

For example, 77% of all new DEA beneficiaries from 2022 showed employment activity in 2024. In terms of a gender breakdown, 83% of men and 65% of women for all new DEA beneficiaries from 2022 had employment activity. When we look at age breakdown, the 25 to 44 year old age group had the highest employment activity. For the purposes of this analysis, any employments of less than €500 per annum and employments where the duration was less than two weeks in the year were excluded.

We also know from the analysis carried out by our Labour Market and Earnings colleagues that non-Irish nationals, which would include a number of International Protection applicants, accounted for 21% of all employments in Ireland in Q2 2025.

In time we aim to develop the methodology further to identify the employment sectors that the beneficiaries engage with, and this will help provide additional independent insights on people residing in Ireland under International Protection.

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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

What data tells us about International Protection Applicants in Ireland