Iraland�s population has grown to 4.4 million, and is younger than any other European country, with a median age of 33. And, combined with the population of Northern Ireland, by the year 2032 the whole island could match the 8 million before the famine set in in the 19th century. The population had grown by over 300,00 since the previous survey four years ago; the growth is split between births and immigrants. The largest increases in immigration since 2002 have been from Poland, Lithuania and Nigeria. The latest census showed 63,276 Poles living permanently in Ireland, up from 2,124 four years earlier.
I wonder, perchance, if the Irish do a better job of making their immigrants "Irish" than we do of making ours "American?"
Could they all be Catholic? Might that make a difference? The Poles and Lithuanians seem likely to be, and the Catholics in Nigeria might want out with Islam rising there as it is.