Rabbitte defends ‘40 million Poles’ comments

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte has defended remarks he made earlier this year that touched on regulation of immigrants and jobs displacement in the workforce.

At the time, he said a work permit regime might be necessary given there were “40 million or so Poles” capable of seeking jobs here. There was internal disquiet within the party following the remarks last January.

In explaining why a work permit scheme might be necessary, Mr Rabbitte said: “The rate of attrition in terms of job losses has been far higher than we have acknowledged. It has been concealed by the scale of the boom.

“There are many positive spin-offs from the diversity of labour here now but to say that should, for all time, go unregulated, I think has been thrown into question by the Irish Ferries dispute. There are 40 million or so Poles after all, so it is an issue we have to have a look at.”

The remarks drew thinly-veiled criticism from former Labour national organiser Pat Magner, who said immigration had to be dealt with “in a way that respects human rights and dignity”.

But in an interview this week on a political website, www.irishelection.com, Mr Rabbitte defended his remarks, suggesting they had been misinterpreted.

“We have now, according to the Census figures, approximately a 10% non-national workforce.

“That is an immense resource for diversity and for pluralism and progress in this society, but of course it has to be managed carefully — and it’s not being managed.

“I mean, public policy is united across employers’ groups and the Government parties that it’s a source of cheap labour and please keep it coming,” Mr Rabitte said.

“You’ve a lot of small businesses who have stars in their eyes about the cheap labour and all I’m saying is that it’s a more delicate issue than that.

“And as regards the remark about 40 million Poles, that was purely an economic fact. I was responding to a comparison between the United States taking Irish emigrants in the past — 260 million people (there) and four million people here or less. And I was merely making the point that we are only four million people and that there are 40 million Poles, and that’s a fact.

“In so much as the phrase was capable of being easily misrepresented, I regret it. But I was merely making the fact of the respective sizes.”

Mr Rabbitte said there should be a clear path to citizenship for all non-nationals in the workforce.

“I think we’ve learned nothing if we encourage the development of a two-tier society. Having said that, every country must protect its own borders — every country must have a rational policy.

“I was talking about immigration, not about asylum. Asylum is a different issue and it’s governed by international law and so on. But we have to address these issues. It’s not good enough to say this is a source of cheap labour and keep it coming.”