Trying to become unattractive
The Irish government is dropping the weekly jobseeker allowance it gave to all Ukrainian refugees staying in state-provided accommodation from €232 to €39 within the next three months. The deduction, already in place for arrivals since March, is an additional bid to reduce the financial burden of asylum seekers: in 2023, it spent nearly €2 billion on accommodation only.
The move is also a symbolic turn as Ireland is trying to make itself less appealing to asylum seekers of all countries. Applications for international protection have grown a staggering 98% in the January-April period between 2023 and 2024, compared with a mere 9% increase between 2022 and 2023.
To an Irish person, it may seem strange that asylum seekers favour Ireland over other countries – if anything, because of the housing crisis. From an outside perspective, however, the reputation is pretty good: it is an English-speaking EU member with high wages and that can still be considered more open to migration than others. Additionally, the UK’s increasingly tough stance on the issue is suspected to be redirecting more asylum-seekers towards the Republic.