Ethnic Minorities (EM) are predominantly a young population with almost equal numbers of males and females in the group. Currently, EM in Mid West are a heterogeneous group coming from 34 countries and speaking 32 languages. Thus, they come from a multitude of cultural backgrounds, which poses considerable challenges in the provision of healthcare. The majority of immigrants have been employed prior to coming to Ireland. They are generally well educated by their own and Irish standards, with those from the EU and Eastern Europe attaining higher educational standards than the rest of the group. More than 50% stated their intension to live permanently in Ireland. Most with this intention came from the EU and Africa. Interestingly, those who planned to live here permanently had their family members living with them and were mainly asylum seekers, refugees, resident IBCs and EU migrant workers. The majority of them had English as their first language, followed by Spanish, Russian, Polish and French. Despite the fact that studies have cited language as a major barrier to accessing health services, many of the study participants spoke English well and claimed to have had little difficulty communicating. More …