Pole toppers! And one in eight of us is non-Irish

POLES top the poll among the more than 500,000 non-Irish people living here, new figures have shown.

The economic crash saw the number of foreign nationals dip by 1.6% from 544,357 in 2011 to 535,475 at the last census in April 2016.

Poles make up the largest immigrant group at 122,515, followed by the British at 103,113, then Lithuanians 36,552, Romanians on 29,186 and Latvians with 19,933. Poles overtook the British as the largest immigrant group between the 2006 and 2011 censuses.

In 2006, there were 112,000 UK nationals and 63,000 Polish. But the number of Poles almost doubled in the five years to 2011 to 122,585, making them the largest group.

Brazilians were the largest group of non-EU immigrants at 13,640 and the sixth group overall. Brazilians were also the youngest group of immigrants with an average age of just under 30, compared with the State’s average of 37 and three months. The two oldest populations were British, with an average age of 46 and eight months, and Germans, 40 and six months.

Immigrant Council of Ireland chief Brian Killoran said: ‘The Census data released shows what we already know, Ireland is a vibrant, diverse country with approx one in eight of us coming from a migrant background. It’s time we saw proactive efforts at a political level promoting integration and ensuring key policies relating to health, education, social protection, are taking this new statistical information on board to ensure everyone in Ireland is being treated fairly.

Almost 40,000 British – 41% – had an Irish partner, compared to only 4% of the Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian nationals.

UK nationals had the lowest labour force participation rate at under 60% largely due to 19% being retired people.