merrion street

Mr David Stanton, Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration & Integration, has welcomed the results of Special Eurobarometer 469 which saw Ireland score highly amongst EU member states in terms of perceptions on immigrant integration.

Special Eurobarometer 469 is a recent EU-wide survey on attitudes to immigrant integration, results were published by the European Commission on the 13^th of April 2018. The results demonstrated positive attitudes amongst Irish respondents on several of the survey questions. In response to the question “Generally speaking, how successful or not is the integration of most immigrants”, 80% of Irish respondents selected the response “Integration is successful in the local area or country”. This was the highest proportion of positive responses across all EU member states, and 26% above the EU average.

Speaking about the report, the Minister said:

“I am very pleased to see Ireland’s strong performance in the Special Eurobarometer on Immigrant Integration. This survey measures people’s perceptions of immigrant integration across the EU. The results for Ireland are encouraging and are a credit to local communities and organisations working in support of integration throughout Ireland. Embracing diversity is key to successful integration and we hope to build on these positive results. 

Communities such as the Ballaghaderreen community, which has just been honoured with Community of the Year Award, play a vital role in welcoming refugees and immigrants. Integration takes time. The new arrivals in Ballaghaderreen are just beginning this process here in Ireland and the warm welcome of the local community helps them to make a strong start. The Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration is working hard with local authorities throughout the country to ensure that the integration needs of refugees arriving under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme continue to be met when they leave emergency accommodation and move into their new communities. Integration is a continuous process that requires sustained commitment and dedication.

The Government is committed to supporting local level integration efforts. Grant support for local community integration projects is available from the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration under the Communities Integration Fund.”