IT WOULD be a “disaster” for the Irish economy if the nation started to view inward migration as a problem. That’s according to the Trade, Enterprise, and Employment Minister at a summit held in Limerick this week.
Speaking at the Scale Ireland Regional Startup Summit in the University of Limerick last Thursday, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney said that inward migration is a real positive for Ireland, and that the nation can’t go down a road where it views the inward flow of migrant workers as a problem, like “too many other countries”.
“We must not allow Ireland to move into a space of too many other countries that actually see inward migration as a negative. That would be a disaster for the Irish economy,” the Minister said.
The summit, which brought together startups, established companies, representatives from Enterprise Ireland, as well as other stakeholders, met in UL’s Analog Devices building to discuss the potential issues facing companies looking to scale up in Ireland.
Speaking at the event, Minister Coveney conceded that housing capacity is a genuine issue for those coming to Ireland, but said that it is something for Ireland and the government to figure out.
“The challenges we have around international protection and refugees, around our responsibilities in the context of Ukrainian people who are fleeing conflict, these are things that Ireland must figure out better ways to deal with, because there are challenges from a capacity point of view, but let’s not turn that into a debate around migration more generally,” he said.
“That undermines this extraordinary growth that the Irish economy has delivered, on the back of skills that we’re bringing in from all over the world.”
Minister Coveney said that there had been a large number of people coming to Ireland to work in the past year, representing the potential that exists in Ireland to be a major employer.
“Last year, I signed off on 31,000 work permits, and we had 39,000 people applying,” Minister Coveney told those present in UL.
The summit heard from business representatives that housing, infrastructure, access to funding, and red tape associated with applying for funds are some of the biggest issues they face.
One executive from a Limerick-based said that, as an employer, he felt that he could’t recommend growing the company in Ireland due to not being able to find housing for new hires, something, he said, that was “at odds with his stance as an Irishman”.
Housing is “a particular problem in certain parts of the country,” Minister Simon Coveney accepted.
“Particularly in somewhere like Limerick that’s had a huge success this year attracting big, big enterprise growth.
“We’re spending significant resources now trying to ensure that we can keep pace with that demand in terms of capacity response from a housing perspective,” he explained.
