Nearly 16,000 Irish emigrants on welfare in Britain

ALMOST 16,000 Irish immigrants have fallen on such hard times in Britain that they are now reliant on that country’s notoriously frugal social welfare system.

Figures, compiled for the first time, show that Ireland is the fourth biggest contributor to Britain’s 371,000-strong population of unemployed immigrants.

The opposition has said that the number caught in the punitive British welfare system undermined Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s comment that many people were emigrating as a lifestyle choice.