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Background Notes

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. 

This publication is based on PPSN allocation and welfare data from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) up to the week ending 12 February 2023, primary and secondary school enrolments from the Department of Education (DoE) as of 13 February 2023 repectively, PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) data to the end of January 2023, data on Revenue Payroll Notifications as of 14 February 2023 and data on enrolments in further education from SOLAS as of 01 February 2023.

Protected Identifier Keys

Before using personal administrative data for statistical purposes, the CSO removes all identifying personal information. This includes the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN), a unique number used by people in Ireland to access social welfare benefits, personal taxation and other public services. A pseudonymised Protected Identifier Key (PIK) is created by the CSO when the PPSN is removed. This PIK is unique and non-identifiable and is only used by the CSO.

Using the PIK enables the CSO to link and analyse data for statistical purposes, while protecting the security and confidentiality of the individual data. All records in the matched datasets are pseudonymised and the results are in the form of statistical aggregates which do not identify any individuals.

Data Sources

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) uses data on PPSN allocations, welfare payments and school enrolments of arrivals from Ukraine, utilising pseudonymised Protected Identifier Keys (PIKs). The data is received as a weekly extract from DSP and DES. Note that data for the most recent weeks in particular is subject to change as more data becomes available.

Primary Pupils Database (POD)

Contains data on each student from Ukraine enrolled in each recognised primary school collected by DoE.

Post-Primary Pupils Database (PPPDB)

The Post-Primary Pupil Database is currently the only national archive of student enrolment at post-primary schools. Individual and personal data on each student enrolled from Ukraine in each recognised post-primary school are collected by DoE.

Note that data on enrolments may not be directly comparable to data published elsewhere as extracted at different points in time.

PAYE Modernisation (PMOD)

The real time PMOD dataset contains information on P35 payslips of persons in employment and on occupational pensions since 01 January 2019.

Programme Learner Support System (PLSS)

The Programme Learner Support System (PLSS) is used to manage course information, learner records and reporting by SOLAS (an tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna), the Further Education and Training Authority. They provide a clear, integrated pathway for learners seeking to enrol in Further Education and Training. Note that the numbers reported in this publication concern currently active enrolments only.

Local Electoral Area (LEA) 

In Series 6 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. As using the post office address as a tentative proxy for place of residence where ARP data is not present, care should be taken when interpreting the location data presented.

Arrivals from Ukraine and population rates 

The rate of Ukraine arrivals among the resident population was calculated as the number of arrivals from Ukraine in an LEA divided by the preliminary Census 2022 population in the same LEA. Please note that both the LEA boundaries and the population data will change in the upcoming Census publications in 2023.

Nationalities

Arrivals from Ukraine may be Ukrainian or third country nationals. A 3rd country national is a person from a country other than Ukraine, who benefitted from international protection or equivalent national protection in Ukraine before 24 February 2022 and who have been displaced from Ukraine on or after 24 February 2022, and their family members. In case of dual nationals, only a single nationality is recorded. Dual nationals with EU citizenship may have entered Ireland independently (not under the Temporary Protection Directive) and would not be counted as a Ukrainian arrival in this release. 

Welfare claims

Arrivals from Ukraine may claim child benefit for dependent children as well as working age income supports such as job seekers allowance or basic supplementary allowance. An active welfare claim was identified as awarded and in payment around the date of the release of this publication. 

Relationships

Please note the relationship table included in previous publications of the Arrivals from Ukraine in Ireland series is not part of this publication. An experimental methodology was derived to determine relationships between arrivals, but the primary reason that relationship data was captured by DSP was to determine the number of children or adults eligible for additional allowances connected with the primary welfare claim. As this is not necessarily a good descriptor of actual family groups the relationship table will no longer be included in the series. However, a new table on marital status is included.

Activity

Last activity was determined for an individual from the last welfare payment pickup from a post office (updated monthly), last time they attended and Intreo event, last time their address was changed on the DSP system, starting a SOLAS course, active employment from Revenue Payroll Notification data and the latest PAYE payment due date (updated monthly). The rate of administrative activity after 30 November 2022 could be underestimated in this release 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.

Previous occupation, number of years in last employment and barriers to employment

Figures are for persons that engaged with Intreo Public Employment Service (of the DSP) events. Breakdowns are provided where barriers, employment history and education level were recorded at the Intreo events.

Employment and earnings

The number of persons with earnings from employment, and primary NACE sector were sourced from PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) payroll data, as well as a preliminary figure for the mean gross weekly earnings based on CSO methodology. The overall weekly pay was calculated as the sum of the gross pay divided by the sum of insurable weeks of all employments for each person. As the arrivals from Ukraine cohort will have just started work, particular care has to be taken when interpreting the earnings figures. Note that this data is subject to revision and that no information is available on the number of hours paid or if working part-time. 

Age

Age is calculated using a pseudonymised date of birth, and hence is for the month rather than the exact date. While PPSN allocations were previously reported by age at entry/PPSN allocation, this was updated for Series 9 to current age to better describe the present cohort of arrivals from Ukraine. Note that all relevant tables use current age except marital status which continues to use age at entry.

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