Attitudes to immigration more negative in disadvantaged areas
Research has found that it is not the case that migrants in Ireland are more likely to live in disadvantaged communities.
The findings relate to a survey of just over 1,200 adults conducted in April 2023, Census 2022 and additional data on the communities they live in.
Last year, applications for asylum in Ireland rose sharply.
However, there has been a decline of around 40% in those seeking international protection so far this year.
Based on the data used in the research, living in a rural area was associated with more negative attitudes towards immigration, compared with living in an urban area.
However, rural areas with high percentages of migrants had attitudes toward immigration that were "very similar" to those in urban areas.
This may reflect the importance of "social contact" with migrants for fostering more positive attitudes, according to the report authors.
The study found that more segregated areas - where migrants live in clusters rather than evenly spread across the area - show more negative attitudes towards immigration.
It reiterates the possibility of social contact with migrants as a means of facilitating understanding.
Researchers investigated whether people living in areas with greater pressure on services like health, housing and education held more negative attitudes towards immigration.
Using indicators such as the number of GPs per household and housing affordability (high rents and high house prices), they found no evidence of a link.
When it comes to pressure on services, it says indications are that it may not be direct local experiences that impact attitudes but "may instead be concern about pressure on services in Ireland as a whole".
The ESRI study is the first to consider the role of 'community characteristics' in shaping immigration attitudes in Ireland, which it describes as "a new immigration country" that experienced a rapid increase in asylum seekers and refugees in the year prior to the survey.
According to the report author Fran McGinnity, it shows that local communities can generate both obstacles to, but also opportunities for, social integration between non-migrants and migrants.
"Communities are spaces where migrants and non-migrants not only encounter each other but can also form lasting social ties," he said.
"This could be as next-door neighbours, as parents of children going to the same school, or in community groups.
"This kind of positive social contact between migrants and non-migrants can go a long way to generating positive relations between groups as well as building stronger, more cohesive communities in the long run."
Co-author Keire Murphy said the report offered an "important insight" into what makes anti-immigrant sentiment more likely.
"Echoing international findings, socio-economic factors like community-level disadvantage seem to matter, implying that the broader social and economic context is important for attitudes towards immigration," she said.
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The research investigated whether people living in areas with greater pressure on services such as health, housing and education held more negative attitudes towards immigration. Using indicators such as the number of GPs per household and housing affordability, high rents and high house prices, the ESRI said it found no evidence of a link. It also found that attitudes to immigration are not related to the proportion of Ukrainian refugees in people's local area. Surprisingly, the proportion of asylum seekers in the community is linked to more positive attitudes to immigration overall, though only a small number of respondents had asylum seekers living in their local area. The research shows that community-level factors can give important insights into attitudes towards immigration. While some communities perceive immigration more negatively than others, positive social contact can play a key role in improving attitudes and therefore social cohesion. 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