{"id":201413,"date":"2025-11-26T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/201413\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:44:08","slug":"new-migration-curbs-aim-to-cut-irelands-population-growth-rate-says-jim-ocallaghan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/201413\/","title":{"rendered":"New migration curbs aim to cut Ireland\u2019s population growth rate, says Jim O\u2019Callaghan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> has said Ireland\u2019s rate of population growth is too high and the Government\u2019s new restrictions on family reunification and citizenship grants are intended to reduce it. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan said that population growth was a good thing and the Government wanted to see it continue. But he said Ireland\u2019s rate, which was 1.6 per cent last year, was seven times the EU average and was putting pressure on services and State capacity.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan was speaking at Government Buildings on Wednesday afternoon, as he unveiled new restrictions<\/a> that have been agreed by the Cabinet. <\/p>\n

The Department of Justice<\/a> is preparing a national migration strategy that will set out the Government\u2019s position on population growth, he said.<\/p>\n

The Government would seek to reduce the number of people arriving<\/a> through family reunification procedures, Mr O\u2019Callaghan said. <\/p>\n

He said about 23,000 people came to Ireland last year through family reunification procedures, stressing that included the families of people who were here with work visas, as well as those who were granted asylum here.<\/p>\n

New rules would require a \u201cclear financial capacity to provide for their family members if they are to be granted permission to come to Ireland\u201d, according to an accompanying statement from the department.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan said that the number of people who come to Ireland seeking asylum was \u201ctoo high\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Government has \u2018no intention of becoming a landlord\u2019 for asylum seekers, says Simon HarrisOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He said that more than 80 per cent of people who sought asylum were refused, and that on appeal between 60 and 70 per cent were refused.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when you look at the statistics overall, the overwhelming majority of people who apply for asylum and international protection are not granted,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s a legitimate reason for me then to say that the numbers are too high because too many people are using it as a means to come in when in fact they should be applying for work visas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his department\u2019s analysis found that about 87 per cent of people who applied for asylum \u2013 or international protection \u2013 here were coming from the UK over the Border from Northern Ireland. <\/p>\n

He said there were no plans to send asylum seekers back over the Border as the UK authorities were unlikely to agree, though they could be refused admission to the State.<\/p>\n

The Government was also looking at restricting the number of student visas, he said.<\/p>\n

The route to citizenship for successful international protection applications will be tightened, with the requirement for them to reside in the State for three years lengthened to five. He said that people seeking citizenship would no longer be permitted to be in receipt of social welfare payments.<\/p>\n

He said the intention was not to bar anyone who has ever received a welfare payment from citizenship but to ensure that a person seeking citizenship has contributed to the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizenship by naturalisation is not a right, it is privilege conferred by the Government on behalf of the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On proposals to require a contribution from people who are working and living in State-provided accommodation, Mr O\u2019Callaghan acknowledged that people could end up being charged almost \u20ac1,000 a month to live in a tent provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service<\/a> (Ipas).<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The real migration crisis is not the one you\u2019ve been hearing aboutOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re earning money through work, you don\u2019t have to live in Ipas accommodation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, he said the Government would require people who are working and in State accommodation to make a contribution, but it would not \u201cbe distinguishing between the quality of accommodation provided by Ipas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Callaghan said that immigration was \u201calways a difficult topic\u201d to talk about.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is an absolutely important topic that needs to be responded to and addressed. I would be failing in my responsibility as a Minister, and the Government would be failing in its responsibility, if we didn\u2019t take into account the extraordinary growth in the Irish population,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, described the proposals as \u201cdeeply alarming\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey severely undercut two key pillars of refugee integration: a clear route to citizenship and the ability to reunite with family. The Government asks refugees to integrate but is removing their ability to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan has said Ireland\u2019s rate of population growth is too high and the Government\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,13169,18,13,14,6,19,56,17,26735,11,12,15,16,111230,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-201413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-department-of-justice","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-jim-ocallaghan","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-movement-of-asylum-seekers","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115616773891107598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}