Immigration policy correct, economist says

IRELAND’S policy on opening its doors to workers from the new EU member states has been the correct one but Europe’s overall immigration policy is a disaster, a conference heard yesterday.

In the five months following enlargement last year, far more people than expected - more than 30,000 - from the 10 countries to join the EU applied to work in Ireland, the conference on economic migration was told in Brussels.

This added to the gross national product of both Ireland and the migrants’ home countries, according to calculations by Professor Tito Boeri of Milan.