WORK RESTRICTIONS on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens are to be renewed by the Government tomorrow for a further three years due to the economic downturn.
The UK, Germany and Austria have in the past week also confirmed they are to retain labour market restrictions for citizens of both states despite a recommendation from the European Commission that they be lifted.
The Government's decision, which was confirmed at the final Cabinet meeting of the year, means Bulgarians and Romanians will be required to secure a work permit in order to take up a job here.
However, Minister of State for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher said their permit applications would be given preference over those from non-European economic area states.
While the Irish experience of immigration had been a positive one, Mr Kelleher pointed to the "considerable challenges" raised by the global economic downturn as one of the main factors behind the Government's decision.
It also took into account the views of trade unions and employer groups, as well as other EU member states.
The Romanian and Bulgarian governments had lobbied to have the restrictions lifted, and argued that they were discriminatory and treated them as second-class EU members.
The European Commission took a similar line. In November it published a report which concluded that the overall impact of post-enlargement mobility had been positive.
Migrant workers had helped to meet higher demand for labour in the receiving countries and contributed to economic growth without significantly displacing local workers or driving down their wages, it suggested.
The report called on the EU's western member states to remove remaining labour market restrictions on workers from the newer member states "as quickly as possible".
"The right to work in another country is a fundamental freedom for people in the EU.
"Migrant workers move to where there are jobs available and this benefits the economy," said employment commissioner Vladimír Špidla.
"Lifting restrictions now would not only make economic sense but would also help reduce problems such as undeclared work and bogus self-employment."
