AHORRO ESTIMADO CON LA PUESTA EN MARCHA DE LA MEDIDA

In the employment domain, Chapter 2 shows that a key issue of concern is that the rate of unemployment among non-Irish nationals is higher than among Irish nationals. Although Ireland is currently emerging from a deep recession, it is important that programmes are implemented to ensure that vulnerable groups are integrated and their skills needs targeted. Targeted labour market and education programmes that focus on providing equal employment opportunities, and offer retraining, education, and language and cultural supports, are vital for ensuring that legally resident immigrants have an equal chance to participate in the labour market and avoid long-term unemployment.

In education, Chapter 3 discusses how the

achievement gap in English reading for 15 year olds who are not from an English-speaking background was lower in 2012 than that reported for 2009, but still present. No data have been released yet from PISA on the proportion of immigrants achieving the basic proficiency level 1 or below in English reading in 2012. In order to plan effectively, policymakers

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need to know what proportion of second-level students require English language tuition and the requisite budget requirement; the proportion of students from a migrant background exiting the Irish education system with lower secondary qualifications or less; and whether there are differences in

achievement between Irish students and those from a migrant background in state exams. The merging of English language support with special needs education means monitoring of the budget allocation for teaching English as an additional language is no longer possible. The ongoing lack of a clearly defined strategy for English language provision for adults is also problematic, given the role of language in labour market integration and in integration more generally. There have been some positive developments in the area of fees for third-level education. Non-EEA students, even if they have lived in Ireland for some time, typically pay much higher (full) fees. However, as of July 2013 non-EEA nationals who naturalise during their college course are not required to pay full tuition fees. The Minister for Education has also argued that non-EU fees should be charged to international students only (and not, for example, to the children of non-EEA migrant workers in the State), but acknowledged that this lies issue beyond his direct control.

Chapter 5 shows a rapid rise in the size of the naturalised population in the last few years, due to increased applications as well as improvements in the processing of applications. While ongoing issues remain (such as the absence of administrative appeal), this recent progress in processing

naturalisation applications is very positive. Regarding family reunification for non-EEA nationals, increased transparency following the recent publication of guidelines is also a positive development.

Continued delays in enactment of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill mean that Ireland remains without a statutory long-term residence permission. The problems regarding limited access to the current administrative scheme, (identified in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Integration Monitors), persist, as do uncertainties about the exact nature of conditions attached to the status. Chapter 5 also argues that the relationship between declining numbers of long-term residence permits

being issued and rapidly increasing numbers of naturalisations warrants closer attention from policymakers.

Evidence both from Chapter 6 on the families of three year olds and from Chapter 4 on the total population suggests that financial difficulties vary across national groups, but that for some non-Irish groups, deprivation, low income and financial difficulties are relatively high. This finding is particularly true for the African group, where levels of deprivation and financial strain are high among the whole population and particularly among mothers.

The low rate of employment among migrant mothers – with the exception of mothers of EU13 origin who are very highly educated – merits closer analysis. One issue is differences between migrant groups in terms of attitudes to mothers working. Another is that the high costs of childcare in Ireland may be particularly problematic for migrant families, given the low availability of relatives as sources of regular non-parental childcare. The introduction of the free preschool year in January 2010, with the associated very high take-up, may be especially relevant for migrant children (see McGinnity et al., 2013a). Given international literature on the potential benefits of preschool education for migrant children being even greater than for native children, monitoring the participation of migrants in preschool education would seem particularly important.

Chapter 1 documents stability in the funding of the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration over the last few years, in the context of a substantial drop in funding since 2008. Immigration may have fallen, but there are no indications that the proportion of migrants living in Ireland has fallen. In fact, if anything, the indications are that immigrants are here to stay. In this context, the Government’s recent commitment to beginning discussions on a new, updated and strengthened integration strategy geared to present conditions is very timely, assuming such a strategy is matched with sufficient resources. There is also cause for concern regarding resources devoted to migrant integration among civil society in Ireland: several philanthropic foundations, which have played an important role in funding in the area of integration, will be winding down their activities in the coming years. Substantial restructuring of the

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non-governmental sector is currently under way and it is not clear how essential supports and services for migrants will be carried out in future.

7.2 iSSuES FoR FutuRE DAtA