Roche dismisses migration flood claims

Junior Minister Dick Roche has dismissed claims that Ireland will face a flood of economic migrants when 10 new countries join the European Union later this year.

Reports this morning said Ireland was the only existing EU member offering equal work and welfare rights to people from the 10 countries.

Aine Ní Chonaill from the Immigration Control Platform said this would lead to a flood of migrants from eastern Europe.

Ms Ni Chonaill said the Government should follow the lead of the other 14 EU countries and restrict the rights of citizens from the accession countries.

However, Mr Roche said today that the Government did not believe the existing situation would cause any problems.

He said the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition would wait to see what happened before deciding whether to intervene.