You're not hearing things — there really are more Irish accents on the streets of Vancouver these days. Over the last five years, there's been a big increase in the number of young Irish workers, students and visitors to Canada.

Ruairi Spillane, moved to Canada from Ireland in 2008, the year Ireland entered a deep recession, and now directs an online community for newcomers called Moving2Canada.

He said he's noticed a huge increase in Vancouver's Irish population, particularly in the summer.

"I was on Third Beach last night at a drum circle — it's like an invasion of Irish students in the summer," Spillane told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On the Coast.

"We're finding a lot of the young Irish people are coming in on a two-year work permit, and that's a gateway to permanent residency."

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the federal government issued 1,221 temporary resident visas and another 5,535 work permits to residents of Ireland last year.

Taken together, that's a 64-per-cent increase over 2012 numbers.

When the Irish economy crashed, Spillane says many Irish families headed for the Prairies, where the cost of living was lower and the energy boom was creating an abundance of jobs.

The recent influx of young Irish people, on the other hand, tends to be into cities like Vancouver or Toronto, despite the high housing costs, he said. Many of those visitors take advantage of the two-year International Experience Canada working holiday program for young people.

"The lifestyle here is second to none," Spillane said of Vancouver. "We have similar winters in Ireland, but summer is a little bit different here. We're not used to three or four months of sunshine, so that's a huge bonus for us."

He added that Whistler, Kelowna and Victoria also have large populations of young Irish people.

Ruairi Spillane moved to Canada from Ireland in 2008. (CBC)

Recently, there have been even more opportunities here. This year, Canada made 10,700 work permits available for Irish citizens between the ages of 18 and 35.

According to Spillane, many young Irish people will stay for the full two years of the working holiday program, and then begin the process of obtaining permanent residency.

He said the numbers have likely peaked as the Irish economy makes its slow recovery, but he believes B.C. will continue to be a big draw.

"A lot of the Irish that have moved here in the last five years are simply deciding to stay, and they're simply mentioning to their friends to come on over," he said.