Migrants ‘not over-represented’ when claiming benefits

A new report published today indicates that migrants are not disproportionately receiving social welfare payments.

Research by the ESRI (Economic Social and Research Institute) and the European Migration Network said there was “no evidence of systematic over-representation” when it came to receiving benefits, and in some instances migrants were “under-represented”.

For contributory Jobseekers Benefit, 14.7% of recipients were not Irish, compared with the 15.4% share of the labour force.