Over half of foreign nationals with PPS numbers work

More than half of the 94,978 foreign nationals who were allocated new PPS numbers last year had employment activity during 2016, while new data from the Central Statistics Office also shows 589 PPSNs have been issued in the past five years to people from ‘unknown’ countries.

Analysis of records of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, and the CSO also shows the number of PPSNs issued to foreign nationals was almost double the number issued in 2012, when 57,946 foreign nationals aged 15 and over were assigned PPSNs. Of that 2012 cohort, the analysis shows 13,759 had some employment activity at some stage during last year.

UK nationals have consistently topped the table over the years when it comes to being issued Irish PPSNs — last year 15,917 PPSNs were issued to UK citizens.

Romanians were in second place and Poles in third, followed by Brazilians and Italians. Last year, 5,312 Croatians received an Irish PPSN, compared with just 86 as recently as 2012.

Across all ages, some 107,767 PPSNs were issued last year, an increase of almost 14% compared with the figure for 2015.

When it came to those of working age, most were employed in just a few sectors, with accommodation and food service activities, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, administrative and support service activities, manufacturing, and the information and communication sectors accounting for 64% of all those aged 15 and over issued PPSNs.

Regarding social welfare activity, it fell to 8.9% last year among those allocated a PPSN, a fall of 1.9% from the 2015 rate of 10.8%. In 2016, 9,780 (16.9%) of the 57,946 PPSN allocations from 2011 recorded social welfare activity. The largest percentage of 2011 allocations to have social welfare activity in 2016 was the EU25 to EU28 states with 27.2% of the 3,704 allocations to those countries in 2011 recording social welfare activity last year. The comparable rate for the EU15 to EU25 states was 26%.

According to the figures, 410,939 foreign nationals who were assigned PPSNs during the period 2002-2016 recorded some employment during 2016. It also shows that, over the same period, 12 North Koreans have been issued Irish PPSNs, but none since 2012, and that 589 people from countries unknown have been given PPSNs, including 101 last year. A spokesperson for the CSO said in some cases this could be a clerical issue, and in other instances, certain countries may no longer exist.

A foreign national must be living in Ireland to apply for a PPS number and they must show that one is required for a transaction with a specified body. However, there are some exceptions, such as someone who is a beneficiary under an Irish will.