The number of immigrants to the State fell by some 25,700 (23.5 per cent) in the year to April this year, with immigration from the newest EU member states showing the greatest decline, new Central Statistics Office figures show.
The lastest population and migration estimates released today also reveal the number of emigrants was up slightly on the previous year to 45,300. The total number of immigrants fell to 83,800 from 109,500 in the year to the end of April a year earlier.
Net migration in the year to April fell by 42 per cent on the previous year, from 67,300 to 38,500 .
Immigration from the EU12, which includes the 10 accession states who joined the EU on May 1st 2004 and also Bulgaria and Romania, fell by 36.5 per cent to 33,100 from 52,100 in the year to April 2007.
The number of immigrants from the rest of the EU also declined, from 14,100 to 10,300.
The number of immigrants from Britain rose slightly from 13,400 to 14,100, while immigration from the US was down from 4,200 to 3,900.
Of the 45,300 who emigrated from the State, 7,000 went to the UK and 2,200 to the US. A total of 9,000 went to the EU12 countries, while 7,400 went to other EU states.
Some 19,800 emigrated to 'rest of the world' locations. The CSO estimates that 11,300 of those individuals went to Australia and Oceania.
The CSO said the natural increase in population outstripped net migration for the first time since 2004 and contributed to just over half (54 per cent) of the population increase in the year to April 2008.
The estimated number of births in the year to April 2008, at 72,300, was the highest since 1980, resulting in the natural increase in the population (44,600) being the main contributor to population growth, the CSO said.
The combined effect of the natural increase and migration resulted in a population increase of 83,100 (1.9 per cent) bringing the population estimate to 4.42 million in April.