People residing in areas with higher levels of socio-economic disadvantage tend to have less favourable views on immigration, according to new research, reports Breaking News.
A report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) explores how the local context shapes people’s opinions about immigration in Ireland.
The findings show that the proportion of migrants in a given area, and recent changes in that number between 2011 and 2022, were not linked to general national attitudes on immigration, reports Breaking News.
However, residents in communities experiencing greater socio-economic hardship were found to hold more negative views, especially in places where the migrant population had increased since 2011.
The study is grounded in a large-scale, representative survey of adults in Ireland, conducted in April 2023, which was linked with data from the 2022 Census and additional information about local community conditions, reports Breaking News.
It builds on a previous ESRI report from earlier this year, which examined how individual and household characteristics—such as education, financial pressure, and future optimism—shape opinions on immigration.
The newer research reveals that migrants are not more concentrated in economically disadvantaged areas. Still, individuals in those communities were generally less welcoming of immigration, even when their own personal financial status was considered, reports Breaking News.
Disadvantage in the study was measured by the share of households led by lone parents, unemployed individuals, people with low levels of education, or those in semi- or unskilled occupations.
The report also found that areas which had seen a rise in migrant populations since 2011 experienced a greater decline in attitudes towards immigration, particularly in already disadvantaged communities, reports Breaking News.
People living in rural regions were generally more negative about immigration compared with those in urban settings. But rural areas with higher migrant populations held views that were closer to urban attitudes.
The report suggests that this may reflect how interpersonal contact with migrants helps foster more positive perceptions, reports Breaking News.
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Additionally, the study found that segregation—where migrants live in concentrated clusters instead of being evenly dispersed—was linked to more negative views. This finding supports the idea that regular social interaction between migrants and locals can build greater understanding.
Researchers also looked into whether residents in areas with stretched services—such as healthcare, housing, and education—were more negative towards immigration, reports Breaking News.
Using metrics like the number of GPs per household, housing affordability, and local rent and property prices, the ESRI concluded that no such relationship existed.
Similarly, the presence of Ukrainian refugees in a person’s locality was not linked to their attitudes on immigration.
Interestingly, the study found that areas with a higher share of asylum seekers were actually associated with more positive views on immigration, although only a small subset of participants reported asylum seekers living nearby, reports Breaking News.
The findings demonstrate that local community conditions can significantly influence public opinion on immigration.
While some communities express more scepticism than others, the research points to positive social contact as a key factor in promoting greater acceptance—and, in turn, stronger social cohesion.
“This has important implications for policies aimed at improving migrant integration, but also indicates that broader economic and social policies and factors, such as disadvantage, segregation, urban/rural settlement, play a key role in social cohesion and attitudes towards immigration,” the report said, reports Breaking News.
“The findings about pressure on services indicate 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,” reports Breaking News.
Report author Fran McGinnity said: “This research 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. 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,” reports Breaking News.
Report co-author Keire Murphy said: “This report gives 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,” reports Breaking News.
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