EU accession - Ireland must rethink open door policy

WHILE there are certain reservations about Bulgaria and Romania in relation to their accession to the EU, not least of which in both their cases are the matters of the fight against corruption and judicial reform, the entry date of the beginning of January 2007 looks to be on target.

Their accession will have to be treated with a certain amount of caution by Ireland which, along with Britain and Sweden, accepted people without condition when the EU was expanded by 10 new members in 2004.

Since then over a quarter of a million Personal Public Service numbers (PPS) have been taken up by them.