 The Republic of Ireland in particular has seen large @-@ scale immigration , with 420 @,@ 000 foreign nationals as of 2006 , about 10 % of the population . A quarter of births ( 24 percent ) in 2009 were to mothers born outside Ireland . Chinese and Nigerians , along with people from other African countries , have accounted for a large proportion of the non – European Union migrants to Ireland . Up to 50 @,@ 000 eastern and central European migrant workers left Ireland in response to the Irish financial crisis . 
