Poles largest minority community in Ireland
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
09.10.2012 11:17
The Polish community in the Irish Republic numbers over 120,000 and constitutes the largest single national minority, according census data.
Liffy River, Dublin: photo - wikipedia
The latest report by the Irish Central Statistical Office finds that, based on the national census carried out at the end of last year, the number of Poles living in Ireland grew by 94 per cent between 2006 and 2011.
All in all, the number of foreigners who settled in the Irish Republic has grown by 143 per cent since the previous census, in 2002.
Ireland and the UK opened their labour markets to Poles and other new EU member states in 2004.
Poles now account for 12 per cent of Ireland’s population and constitute 15 per cent of the total labour force.
Over two and a half million Poles, our of a population of 38 million, now work abroad, the majority of which, mostly young people between 20 and 30 years old, are in Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to the data from Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS). (mk/pg)