The Immigrant Council of Ireland has warned that Ireland's economic performance will falter in the coming years, due to what it described as "increasingly regressive migration policies" adopted by the Government.
The seventh annual National Migrant Inclusion Conference heard that national and international reports repeatedly show that migration is needed in Ireland to sustain economic growth, address labour shortages and support public services.
CSO figures published last month showed that migrant workers accounted for 61.4% of all employment growth between 2019 and 2024, with non-Irish nationals accounting for 27.5% of total employees in 2024.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland described current government policy and its legislative focus as "disproportionate", leaving "significant gaps" for most migrants, when it comes to immigration service delivery.
It said the focus of government is predominantly on asylum seekers, who represent 5% of the migrant population.
CEO Teresa Buczkowska acknowledged that deportations are necessary in some instances, however, she said millions of euro are spent on removing people from the state, rather than resourcing administrative systems for existing working migrants.
Four-week gap between renewals of residence permits
The current waiting list for Irish Residence Permit (IRP) cards for migrant workers - which has extended to 16 weeks - was cited as an example.
IRP holders are not permitted to apply for renewal until 12 weeks before their expiry date.
This means migrant workers have been left with at least a four-week gap where they will not have a valid residence permit evidencing their entitlement to work in Ireland.
"Employers are, understandably, reluctant to keep people in jobs if their residence permit has expired," she said.
"So many migrant workers - people who are absolutely essential to keeping Ireland’s economy running smoothly - are now at risk of being laid off," she said.
Ms Buczkowska said mortgage approvals or house sale agreements are also falling through because people cannot produce a valid IRP card, due to "the massive waiting lists and delays" at the Department of Justice.
Similarly, she said visa-required nationals are unable to travel easily outside of the state for family emergency or medical treatment, for the same very reasons.
This has resulted in workers seeking opportunities elsewhere.
"If this trend continues, there will be massive repercussions for Ireland’s economic performance," she said.
She added that in a time when the world is becoming increasingly polarised and divided, government’s rhetoric and actions on migration "seem designed to play into a populist playbook and stoke further divisions and discord, rather than recognising the inescapable reality that Ireland would simply cease to function if migration significantly waned."
Shared responsibility to address racism - President
President Catherine Connolly, who gave a keynote speech at the conference, pointed to the government's national action plan against racism and said its implementation was vital.
She said the plan applied to everyone in Ireland, because there is a shared responsibility to address racism "in our daily lives".
She said Immigrant Council's conference was important because it was bringing government departments, public bodies, local authorities, our society, civil society, researchers, and migrant communities together to bridge the gap between policy, strategy, and actual action on the ground.
President Connolly said another conference would be required to discuss the over 170 million people displaced worldwide, of whom 42.5m are refugees.
She said war had been normalised, and economies driven by a military industrial complex.
"I think we have the duty never to accept that inevitability or the normalisation of war, and to speak out at every opportunity that we have to say no, we will not do this in our name, and we will stand up for international law with the United Nations and for the UN structures that were set up and that were wrought out of the horror of the First and the Second World War, as something we can never forget, which, in not forgetting, we all, we also have to take action," she said.
