Government gets tough on 'benefit tourists'

THE Government yesterday followed Britain's controversial stance on immigration by launching a crackdown on so-called 'benefit tourists' from Eastern Europe.

Social Affairs Minister Mary Coughlan said that as yet unspecified changes to the social welfare code would be "no less robust that those introduced in Britain", though it would be confined only to those seeking social welfare and not to job-seekers.

And in another unexpected move, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil yesterday that the Government would take steps to address the growing number of births to non-nationals. A quarter of all births in maternity hospitals in the State are to mothers who come from abroad.