Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland Series 9

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. 

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. 

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%. 

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.

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. Combining 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. 

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.

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 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.

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. ‘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.

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 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 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.