Severe restrictions must be imposed on labour market access for Bulgaria & Romania
Issued : Tuesday 24 October, 2006
Statement by Pat Rabbitte TD
Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources
Ireland should impose severe restrictions on access to our labour market by Bulgarian and Romanian workers, Labour Leader Pat Rabbitte TD has said.
“It is expected that later today the UK Home Secretary, John Reid, will impose restrictions on the right of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens to work in the UK.
“It is time our Government clarified its position on the accession of these two countries from January 1st, and its attitude to their citizens’ right to work in Ireland.
“My own view is that Ireland should impose severe restrictions on the right to work here during the transition period. I have consistently argued that the poor labour market regulation in this country means that large scale in-migration has given rise to exploitation of migrant workers, displacement, and lower wages for some Irish workers.
“Projections on the number of migrants from the ten new Member States that joined the EU in 2004 were out by a mile. Given the unwillingness of other Member States to open their borders, and particularly in light of the attitude being taken by the UK, Ireland cannot at this point adopt the same attitude to Bulgaria and Romania as it did to the ten accession states in 2004.”
