Irish PM says Ireland not overrun by immigrants, legal migration tied to economic success

NEW YORK — Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin pushed back on the notion that has been "overrun" by immigrants as nearly one in four residents is now foreign-born, arguing that the country's dramatic demographic change has been driven largely by legal migration tied to its economic success story.

Martin, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, acknowledged failures in Ireland's asylum system after a record surge in applications, saying it "was too slow" in recent years.

He also addressed moves to tighten citizenship rules and opened the door to publishing crime statistics by nationality amid a heated debate over immigration and crime.

The issue has become a political flashpoint across Europe and the U.S. and comes weeks after warned about Europe's approach while appearing alongside Martin in Dublin.

"That immigration, what you're doing to yourselves, you're just killing yourselves," Trump said.

TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD 'LOVE' TO SEE IRELAND UNIFIED AS ONE NATION

"Ireland is not overrun in any shape or form," Martin told Fox News Digital. "But we are conscious that it is an issue that has to be addressed robustly, firmly, fairly as well in terms of those seeking asylum."

"All over Europe it's tightening up because of the pressures and migration has created significant political pressures across Europe," he added.

"Obviously, illegal migration is the more potent issue. And our system was too slow in processing those seeking asylum. That has changed. We've accelerated the application and the consideration of applications, and we've also now accelerated the appeals process."

Martin said his government is developing a new migration strategy that includes proposals to increase residency requirements for citizenship from five to eight years and introduce language and economic self-sufficiency requirements.

Immigration has become increasingly intertwined in Ireland's political debate with concerns over housing, crime and rapidly changing demographics in a country that was drastically more homogeneous a generation ago.

The issue burst into international view in November 2023, after Algerian-born Irish citizen Riad Bouchaker and a childcare worker outside a school in Dublin, triggering riots as anger among some opponents of mass immigration spilled into violence on the streets of the capital. The unrest was followed by sustained opposition to government efforts to house asylum seekers in communities across the country, with some protests also

Immigration returned to the spotlight this summer following the violent killing of Jamey Carney, a 43-year-old American mother from New York who was found dead at her home in County Kerry.

Her Jordanian boyfriend, the suspect in the case, had applied for asylum in Ireland but was rejected and was appealing the decision while remaining in the country. He fled Ireland for Turkey shortly after the killing, later traveling to Jordan and Irish police are now seeking his extradition.

Fox News Digital asked Martin whether