The Land of One Hundred Thousand Welcomes? Economic Threat and Attitudes towards Immigration in Ireland.

The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of the role of economic threat in the formation of public attitudes toward immigration in Ireland. Research has identified realistic threat, particularly related to scarce economic resources, as one of the main drivers of anti-immigration sentiment (Quillian, 1995; Mayda, 2006; Billiet et al., 2014). Since the onset of the economic crisis, public opinion in many European countries has become more hostile towards migration, particularly in those countries most affected by economic recession. This is generally assumed to be a consequence of economic threat, with greater competition for jobs and resources leading to a hardening in attitudes. Using the European Social Survey and the Labour Force Survey, this paper investigates if individuals in sectors and occupations; i) more exposed to economic uncertainty, and ii) with greater representation of migrants can account for hardening attitudes towards immigration. This study contributes to the larger body of research on anti-immigration attitudes and contributes to a better understanding of economic threat in the formation of public attitudes towards immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]