Ierland geeft beperkingen aan op Roemeense en Bulgaarse werknemers (en)

Ireland has indicated that it may not extend its open door policy for workers from the new member states when Bulgaria and Romania join the EU, set to happen in January.

The Irish Times on Saturday (23 September) reported deputy prime minister Michael McDowell as saying that Ireland had its own social and economic interests to look after when it came to new work permits.

"More than a quarter of a million PPS [Personal Public Service] numbers have been taken up by people from the new member states, and that in a State of just four million people ... there are issues to be looked at," said Mr McDowell.

He also indicated that Dublin's decision will be strongly influenced by what happens across the Irish sea, in the UK - with London last week heavily hinting that it would close the doors to workers from the two new member states.

"All the signals are that Ireland will not take a more liberal path to the UK because the consequences for the common travel area could be chaotic," Mr McDowell said.

Dublin and London have a common travel area under which there are no passport controls in operation for citizens travelling between the two countries. Neither country is a part of the EU's borderless Schengen zone.

Meanwhile, research has indicated that Bulgarians and Romanians would rather travel to southern Europe, preferring Italy, Spain and Greece to northern less familiar countries such as the UK or Ireland.

According to a report by the European Citizen Action Service earlier this month, Romanian economic migrants tend to travel primarily to Italy (29%), Spain (22%), Germany (13%) and Hungary (6%) while Bulgarians have formed immigrant communities in Greece (200,000), Italy (60,000) and Spain (80,000).