Ireland opens door to EU accession state workers

TENS of thousands of workers from Eastern Europe will be free to live and work in Ireland from May next year.

The Government has decided to allow citizens from 10 EU accession states to work here without requiring a permit or visa.

The decision, which sparked angry rows during last year's Nice Treaty debate, was welcomed by union and business leaders. Tánaiste Mary Harney said she decided not to implement a clause which would deny workers free access to the Irish labour market for up to seven years, as a sign of support for enlargement.

This contrasts with member states like France and Germany, which plan to use the clause to protect domestic jobs against growing unemployment.

Ms Harney said however that the Government could withdraw this full freedom for accession-state workers if the labour market deteriorated.

"To a large extent we're going into the unknown here. But we reckon the Irish labour market will continue to require people from outside the country to supplement our own labour pool," Ms Harney told RTÉ News.

There were 40,000 work permits issued to foreign workers last year, 35% of which were given to workers from the accession states of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta and Cyprus.

The new legislation, the Employment Permits Bill 2003, will also create criminal offences for employers or employees operating without permits. They could face fines of up to €250,000 and 10 years in prison.

The Government's liberal position on the work permits issue shared by other member states such as Britain and Spain was welcomed by business leaders, who say they cannot find enough Irish employees to fill low-paid jobs.

Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), called for a loosening of work permit regulations to tackle labour shortages.

Joe O'Toole, president of the umbrella union group ICTU, said he welcomed the Government's decision, but warned our first priority must be the labour needs of our own citizens.

He also said it was important that foreign workers were not exploited, and that employers must respect their rights.