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Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland Series 9

There were 74,458 arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland by 12 February 2023 of which just over 700 arrived the previous week

CSO statistical publication, , 11am
A CSO Frontier Series Output

This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example, new administrative data sources. 

Key Findings

  • There were 74,458 Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSNs) given to arrivals from Ukraine by the week ending 12 February 2023, under the Temporary Protection Directive.

  • Of these arrivals from Ukraine, 83% had activity in administrative data after 30 November 2022, based on data currently available to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

  • Women and men, aged 20 and over, made up 46% and 21% respectively of arrivals to date, while 33% were people aged under 20. Of all arrivals to date aged 18 and over, 62% of males and 47% of females were married or cohabiting.

  • There were 12,622 arrivals enrolled in further education and training courses on 01 February 2023, of which 10,680 enrolled in further education English language courses.

  • As of 12 February 2023, 28,774 arrivals had attended an employment support event arranged by Intreo Public Employment Services. Of those 70% (or 20,016 persons) noted that English language proficiency was a challenge in securing employment.

  • Of the 28,774 arrivals that attended an Intreo event, 14,890 had recorded previous occupations, with Professionals being the largest group at 31% (or 4,680 persons). Of the 23,107 persons where the highest level of education was recorded, 62% had achieved an NFQ level equivalent to 7 or higher.

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release, Karola Graupner, Statistician, said: â€œExactly one year since the invasion of Ukraine began, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 February 2023) published the ninth Arrivals from Ukraine  in Ireland release, which is part of series of releases providing insights into Ireland’s response to the Ukrainian crisis. This release includes an analysis of Ukrainian arrivals who are availing of support and services from the Department of Social Protection, as well as providing insights into primary and secondary school enrolments overseen by the Department of Education and enrolments in further education and training based on data provided by SOLAS. Also included is an experimental measure of arrivals from Ukraine that were still administratively active after 30 November 2022, incorporating PAYE Modernisation (PMOD), Department of Social Protection and SOLAS data. Furthermore, information on barriers to work, previous and current employment and education level is included in the release."

Further commenting on the release, Karola Graupner, Statistician, said: "There are two maps in this release based on mapping 70,865 individuals, or 94% of arrivals, to a location within Ireland. These maps are based on the local post office address as per the process through which arrivals were seeking assistance from the Department of Social Protection or, if available, the arrivals' residential address where an Accommodation Recognition Payment is payable to the host of the residence. The first map is a count of arrivals by Local Electoral Area (LEA), and the second is the rate of arrivals by LEA (per 100 of the preliminary Census 2022 de facto population). Killarney in Co. Kerry had the highest number of associated arrivals from Ukraine at 2,194.

Our analysis also shows that the rate per 100 of the population ranges across all LEAs in the country from 0.10% to 9.88%. The LEA with the highest rate was Ennistimon in Co. Clare."

Editor's Note

In response to the situation, the CSO provides statistics related to the Ukrainian crisis to an inter-Departmental group called the Humanitarian Senior Officials Group. The statistics include a weekly Department of Social Protection (DSP) extract which the CSO receives every Monday. Some of the aggregate data provided to the Group this week features in the release issued today (24 February 2023). This release, published one year since the invasion began, is also a follow-up to Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland Series 8.

As well as the strict legal protections set out in the Statistics Act, 1993, and other existing regulations, the CSO is committed to protecting individual privacy and all identifiable information from each of the data sources used in our analysis, such as name, date of birth and addresses, are removed before use and only anonymised statistical aggregates are produced. For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and definitions of this report, see Background Notes.

The Temporary Protection Directive (2001/55 EC) was activated on the 04 March 2022 by EU Council Decision EU 2022/382, to provide immediate protection in EU countries for people displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on the 24 February 2022. This publication examines and analyses the population cohort that availed of the temporary protection and received a PPSN. Therefore, the figures quoted should be interpreted as estimates of the numbers arriving from Ukraine. For example, the number of persons who have arrived from Ukraine may not have received a PPSN yet, while the figures may also include those who received a PPSN earlier in the crisis but who are no longer resident in the State.

To avail of the Temporary Protection Directive and to reside in Ireland, an Arrival from Ukraine must meet the following criteria:

a) A Ukrainian national who was residing in Ukraine before 24 February 2022.

b) A national of a third country (other than Ukraine) or stateless person who would have benefited from international protection (for example: Refugee Status) or an equivalent national protection status in Ukraine and were residing there before 24 February 2022.

c) A family member* of persons covered by a) and b) above, where the family already existed in Ukraine at the time of events leading to the mass influx prior to 24 February 2022.

*Family members include a spouse or partner, unmarried minor children of either of them, and their other close dependent family relatives who have been living with them as part of the family unit.

Temporary protection also applies to people who were residing in Ukraine before 24 February 2022 with a permanent Ukrainian residence permit, who cannot safely return to their country of origin.

Tables and Maps

Figure 1 shows the total cumulative number of arrivals (based on PPSN allocations) from Ukraine to Ireland for the week ending 12 February 2023 was 74,458. This is a 1% increase compared to the cumulative count one week earlier and a 4% increase compared to four weeks earlier. 

Figure 1: PPSN allocations (cumulative) to arrivals from Ukraine
Table 1: PPSN allocations (cumulative) to arrivals from Ukraine as of 12 February 2023

Based on the 74,458 arrivals, 94% or 70,865 individuals could be mapped to an LEA. The LEA mapping of arrivals is based on either the local post office address through which refugees were seeking assistance from the Department of Social Protection or, if available, the arrivals' residential address where an Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is payable to the host of the residence. The post office address is used as a tentative proxy for place of residence where ARP data is not present. The 70,865 mapped records for the week ending 12 February 2023 are shown on Map 1. Users can hover their mouse over the map to see the name of the LEA and the number of arrivals from Ukraine in the LEA. Zooming in on the map will show data for the smaller sized LEAs. 

Map 1: Number of arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland based on PPSN allocations as of 12 February 2023

Table 2 shows the age and sex breakdown of arrivals as of 12 February 2023. We see that women and men, aged 20 and over, account for 46% and 21% respectively of this cohort to date, while individuals aged 0-19 (both male and female) account for 33%. 

Table 2: Number of arrivals (cumulative) from Ukraine based on PPSN allocations by sex and age as of 12 February 2023

Again using the same approach as described for Map 1 above, Map 2 shows the arrival rate (%) by LEA (per 100 of the preliminary Census 2022 de facto population) as of 12 February 2023. The rate ranges from 0.10% to 9.88% in LEAs across the country.

Map 2: Arrivals from Ukraine (based on PPSN allocations) as a percentage of the preliminary Census 2022 de facto population as of 12 February 2023

 * Preliminary de facto population from the 2022 Census. 

While PPSN allocations give the total number of arrivals from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive, it is not necessarily indicative of how many persons are currently residing in Ireland as some arrivals may have subsequently left. 

Experimental Tables 3 & 4 below give an indication if arrivals from Ukraine have stayed or left Ireland by examining activity in administrative data. Attending an Intreo event, picking up a welfare payment from a post office, starting a SOLAS course, getting paid for employment, having an active employment or changing ones address with DSP are taken as signs of activity. For children, the activity status is dependent on that of their parent(s)/guardian(s).

Subject to revision, 2,143 persons had such an activity in the available data during December 2022, while an additional 59,701 persons had activity in the selected administrative data sources after 31 December 2022. Combing these two groups together, 83% of persons had recent administrative data activity, i.e., activity after the 30 November 2022, also see Background Notes.

The rate of administrative activity after 30 November 2022 could be underestimated as it is based on the administrative data currently available to the CSO. The availability of more real-time data to the CSO will help provide more up to date statistics in this series going forward.

For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and definitions of this report, see Background Notes. 

Table 3: Last activity by PPSN allocation for individuals aged 18 and over and children under 18

Table 4: Last administrative activity by age group and sex

As of 12 February 2023, 10,153 arrivals from Ukraine were living in private accommodations, while 4,791 hosts were in receipt of Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) for accommodating people from Ukraine. Additional information on hosts and arrivals, such as age bands and sex, can be found in Table 5.

Table 5: Number of hosts currently in receipt of Accommodation Recognition Payment and arrivals from Ukraine living in accommodation provided by these hosts

The figures for ARP may also include accommodation obtained via the 'Offer a Home' scheme, Irish Red Cross (IRC) pledges and privately arranged accommodation. ARP is potentially available to any host that applies. As of 09 February 2023, 6,482 arrivals from Ukraine were living in IRC/DCEDIY pledged accomodation and 944 were living in accomodation under the 'Offer a Home' scheme.

Table 6 focuses on active welfare claims broken down by 'Working Age Income Supports', 'Child Benefits' and 'Other'. Please note that data is preliminary and subject to change as additional data becomes available, particularly for the most recent week reported.

Table 6: Active welfare claims by week ending to arrivals from Ukraine, 2022 and 2023

Table 7 shows that for the 10,351 persons with earnings from employment, the mean weekly earnings in January 2023 were €434 (based on CSO methodology - see 'Background Notes'). The most common sector of employment was Wholesale, Transport and Accommodation at 51%. 

(NOTE: for official statistics on earnings data please see the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS) and Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources 2020 (EAADS).) 

Table 8 shows changes in employments, where a person can have more than one employment.

Table 7: Number of arrivals from Ukraine with earnings from employment, by month, as of 12 February 2023

Table 8: Employments with earnings of arrivals from Ukraine, by month, as of 12 February 2023 by NACE sector

Since 11 April 2022, Intreo Public Employment Services (of the DSP) have been arranging employment support events for arrivals from Ukraine and, as of 12 February 2023, those events have been attended by 28,774 arrivals.

The previous occupation of those arrivals from Ukraine are shown in Table 9. â€˜Professionals’ were the largest broad group among the classification listed of the 14,896 persons having recorded work history, with 31% (or 4,680 persons).

Of the persons that attended Intreo events, 70% were noted with English language proficiency being a challenge in securing employment, see Table 10.

Of the 23,107 persons where the highest level of education was recorded, 62% had achieved an NFQ level equivalent to 7 or higher, see Table 11.

Table 9: Previous occupation of arrivals from Ukraine attending Intreo events, as of 12 February 2023

Table 10: Arrivals from Ukraine attending Intreo events with assessed barriers to employment, as of 12 February 2023

Table 11: Highest education level of arrivals from Ukraine attending Intreo events, as of 12 February 2023

The marital status of arrivals from Ukraine is shown in Table 12. Of all arrivals to date aged 18 and over, 62% of males and 47% of females were married or cohabiting.

Table 12: Marital status of arrivals from Ukraine (cumulative) aged 18 and over by age group, as of 12 February 2023

Table 13 shows that as of 13 February 2023, 14,686 arrivals from Ukraine have enrolled in schools in the academic year 2022/23, with 65% of these in primary schools and the remaining 35% in secondary schools. Dublin has the highest number of children enrolled in schools at 1,895 while Monaghan had the lowest at 97. 

Table 14a focuses on primary school enrolments by classes while Table 14b provides a breakdown on secondary school enrolments by year within the junior and senior cycles.

In this release, of the 14,686 arrivals from Ukraine that enrolled in schools, 3,453 had their PPSN registered on or after the 08 August 2022 and were successfully linked to Department of Social Protection administrative data using a pseudonymised Protected Identifier Key (PIK). For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and definitions of this report, see Background Notes. Table 15 shows that  average time between the allocation of a PPSN on or after the 08 August 2022 to enrolment in primary or secondary school was three weeks. 

Table 16 shows a breakdown of the school enrolments by age as of 13 February 2023.

Table 13: Enrolments in primary and secondary education of arrivals from Ukraine by county, for the academic year 2022/2023

Table 14a: Enrolments in primary education by class as of 13 February 2023
Table 14b: Enrolments in secondary education by year as of 13 February 2023
Table 15: Mean number of weeks between PPSN registration and school enrolment by week of PPSN registration

Table 16: Breakdown of enrolments in primary and secondary education by age

Table 17 shows there were 12,622 arrivals enrolled in further education and training courses on the 01 February 2023, of which 10,680 enrolled in further education English language courses.

Table 17: Enrolments in further education