Finding the Gap: Immigrant Integration Outcomes and Settlement Service Provision in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

AbstractImmigrant integration is increasingly assessed through integration outcomes, which assess the degree of convergence of the experiences of immigrants and non-immigrants within a country. Integration processes – for example, settlement services in key areas such as employment, education and social inclusion – help to enhance integration outcomes. In this paper, we use the example of the Republic of Ireland to show that the relationship between desired integration outcomes and the provision of settlement services needs considerably more attention. We present immigrant integration outcomes for specific regions and groups of immigrants derived from existing large-scale data sets. We then use publicly available data on existing settlement services to assess the extent to which settlement services address key areas of immigrant integration outcomes. We demonstrate that there are considerable gaps in the provision of appropriate settlement services that could support the enhancement of key integration outcomes, such as the quality of work, language proficiency and housing. If immigrant integration outcomes are to be improved, the relationship between outcomes and settlement service provision has to be better coordinated and targeted to address the structural barriers faced by particular groups of immigrants and by immigrants living in particular regions.