Ireland needs to cut the level of immigration or the country will see “levels of racism that we’ve never seen before”, Ciara Kelly has predicted. 

According to new figures published by the EU, Ireland’s population grew by nearly 90,000 last year.

It means there were around 5,440,000 people living in the Republic at the end of last year. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, presenter Ciara Kelly said she worries about the impact that a growing population is having on Irish society. 

“We know this - because we talk about it all the time on the show - that infrastructure is a huge issue in Ireland,” she said. 

“We lack housing stock, our grid, our energy, our water systems are all under constraint - and that is an issue. 

“So, our infrastructure is creaking. 

“We are growing rapidly, seven times the EU average; I think it’s 20% of the population here are from immigrant backgrounds. 

“Which is massive compared to what it used to be.” 

Garda National Immigration Bureau. Picture by: Rodrigo Bellizzi / Alamy.

Ciara continued that she also worries that there has been “an unraveling of social cohesion” in recent years, adding that she “hates” racism. 

“You need to manage things well if you want to bring the people with you,” she said.

“I fear that perhaps we aren’t managing it as well as we should.

“I think you have to manage this or we will see a rise in racism.” 

Passengers boarding a Ryanair flight to Dublin Airport. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ciara urged the Government to “slow it down and manage it”. 

“Because otherwise we are going to see division and conflict in Ireland in a way that we have never seen before,” she predicted. 

“We’re going to see levels of racism that we’ve never seen before and I don’t want to see that happen.”

Immigration rates 'a vote of confidence' in Ireland

By contrast, co-presenter Shane Coleman said he viewed the figures as a positive trend. 

“You and I are old enough to remember when our population was three and a half million,” he told Ciara.  

“People were leaving in their droves; I think it’s a vote of confidence in the Irish economy. 

“By the way, if you go through that 90,000 figure… I can guarantee you, the biggest percentage of those will be Irish citizens returning, EU citizens coming here - which they have the right to do - and those given work permits because they’re needed to fill roles in the economy where we can’t get Irish people to do the job.

“A tiny percentage of that will be asylum seekers.” 

Shane added that people should not get “hung up” on those people who come to Ireland to seek asylum and that, overall, immigration is a “good thing”.  

“We’re going to need those workers to build houses, if we are going to hit those housing targets,” he said.

Main image: Ciara Kelly in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk