EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Society, Statistics

There are around 30,000 to 35,000 residents of Latvia living in Ireland. Each year, about 1,000 Latvians arrive in Ireland, but it there are no precise data on how many Latvians leave Ireland or return to Latvia.

Approximately 6,000 Latvians who live in Ireland are children under 18, and more than 2,000 are 20 to 30 years old, said Apals.

The government has to work on developing sustainable relations with the Latvian diaspora in Ireland, and do more to support it, believes the ambassador.

So far Latvia has been focusing on remigration, however, taking into consideration that the demand for labor in Latvia is not as high as anticipated a few years ago, and that Latvians abroad contribute around EUR 100 mln a year to the Latvian economy, the government should also pay attention to stabilization and development of sustainable relations with Latvians living abroad.

According to Apals, Latvians in Ireland do not take active part in Latvian politics, which is proved by the fact that only 1,500 out of 20,000 Latvian citizens living in Ireland voted in the last Saeima election.

The most important areas where Latvia could do more to support Latvians in Ireland include Latvian language classes for young people living there, adoptions of Latvian children by Irish foster families, and sham marriages. The latter, though, is not an urgent problem anymore.

It is also important the results of high school exams that Latvian children in Ireland take in the Latvian language be recognized in Latvia. About 100 Latvian schoolchildren in Ireland take exams in Latvian every year.

In total, approximately 10% of Latvian children who live in Ireland continue to learn Latvian.