IBEC: don’t follow British
Both countries decided to allow workers from the EU’s two newest members to work only under specific conditions when they joined in January this year.
The conditions are to remain in place until the end of next year but a review by the British Home Office suggest they will not make any change to this.
Usually Ireland follows Britain’s lead in such matters but IBEC has said it should wait and see before any change in policy.
Ireland too has until December 2008 to decide whether to lift the ban but must be able to give very good reasons if it wants to keep the restrictions in place.
A spokesperson for IBEC said: “We are disappointed that Britain is making decisions about this now. We prefer to wait and look at it closely with our members in the second half of next year, closer to the date. But there is no reason why Ireland should have to slavishly follow the position that Britain takes then — it should be driven by the labour market at the time.”
IBEC favoured Ireland’s decision to open up its labour market to workers from the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 — one of just three countries to do so.
The decision to insist that Romanians and Bulgarians must apply and receive a work permit before being allowed to take up a job in Ireland was supported by IBEC. They must also be working in Ireland for two years before being eligible for unemployment assistance.
The latest figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that so far this year only 32 and 86 permits were issued to Bulgarian and Romanian workers respectively, while 11 and 50 were refused.
The British decision to continue the restrictions coincides with two reports published last week showing that immigration is expected to add a million to the population over the next five years.
At the same time, Nordic countries including Sweden, Norway and Denmark are trying to attract more workers from the new EU member states.
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