In the past two decades, thousands of Irish graduates and workers have left home to find jobs or gain valuable work experience abroad. How times have changed. Not only are the former emigrants returning to a thriving economy, but our European neighbours, Americans, Australians and others arrive daily on our shores in search of well-paid jobs, a more relaxed lifestyle and the renowned Irish craic.

"Dublin in particular is becoming much more European and cosmopolitan," says Ciaran Conlon, campaigns manager with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce which recently published a report on the changing workforce. "You're almost as likely to meet a French, Spanish, Italian or Asian person in Grafton Street as you are an Irish person."

An exaggeration, perhaps, as not all visitors want work. But with the unemployment rate hovering around 5 per cent - about half the EU average - it is not surprising that non-nationals now make up a significant proportion of the staff in many restaurants, hotels, call centres and software firms, or that employers and recruitment agencies have had to search abroad for high and low-skilled workers to fill vacancies.

Preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office show 47,500 immigrants arriving in the Republic in the year to April 1999. More than half were returned Irish emigrants (25,900). The remainder came from Britain, (7,900), other EU countries (6,800), the US (2,500) and the rest of the world (4,400).

The State has also attracted a growing number of asylum-seekers, many fleeing war and oppression in their own lands but others enticed by the prospect of steady jobs and a better life. In this, they are similar to the thousands of Irish people who flocked to the US - both legally and illegally - in the 1980s at a time when the unemployment rate here was close to 20 per cent.

The problem now is that the Republic has only one route for immigrants - asylum-seekers applying for refugee status. Although EU citizens are free to live and work here as part of the EU's policy of free movement of labour, non-EU nationals can work only if employers apply on their behalf for a work permit. Not surprisingly, the number of work permits has risen steadily, from around 3,700 in 1996 to more than 6,200 last year.

With widespread labour and skills shortages in most sectors, fears are increasing that economic growth could stall without an expansion of the labour force. Efforts are under way to encourage women back into the workforce and to target retirees and the long-term unemployed, but business groups say more must be done.

With an estimated 20,000 job vacancies in the greater Dublin area alone, they want a drive to clean up outmoded immigration policies and streamline procedures so that non-nationals can take up jobs more easily.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is seeking a two-tiered immigration system which would allow employers to hire economic migrants to fill jobs while enabling the Government to cater humanely for those fleeing war and persecution.

"We want a structured system and a clearly defined policy," says Mr Conlon. "We want a work visa programme that fits the needs of the Irish economy, where people can come in, get a good job and contribute to society.

"We also want asylum-seekers and genuine refugees coming from war zones and places where you would fear oppression, such as Kosovo, Rwanda or Chechnya, to be catered for humanely. At the moment, everyone is treated the same."

A structured immigration policy is only part of the solution, says Brendan Butler, director of social policy with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation. The State must also sell itself internationally to attract workers with the right skills.

"Ultimately we need to identify people in particular sectors to bring to Ireland. We need to go out and tell them why they should come and when they do, we need to make sure there are no bureaucratic issues to hinder them."

A support structure encompassing housing, health, education and social welfare would also need to be put in place, he says. "If we bring 10,000 non-nationals in, where are they going to live? They would need an induction period to support them when they arrive, but who does that and who pays for it?"

FAS is already searching abroad for skilled workers. In September, it began a campaign to attract 10,000 Irish expatriates and EU nationals to work in the tele-services, electronics, software and financial sectors. As of January, the agency had 6,000 firm applications, a spokesperson said. More recruitment fairs are being planned for the UK and FAS is also considering a US road-show targeting Irish ex-pats.

Meanwhile, the Government has approved measures to streamline immigration and asylum policies. In December, it announced a work visa programme similar to the visa programme for Irish people going to the US and Australia. Details will be presented to the Government for approval by the end of February.

The Government has also eased restrictions on the 2,100 asylum-seekers given permission last July to seek work, but who have been hindered by cumbersome work permit procedures from taking up jobs.

Filling jobs, however, may turn out to be the easy part of the equation. What has yet to be addressed are broader questions of integration of non-nationals into the Irish culture. Barring unforeseen events in other parts of the world, the Irish economy is expected to continue to do well over the next 10 years or so.

This will attract more non-nationals to our shores. How we deal with the cultural, religious and linguistic diversity of this emerging multi-ethnic society will shape the new Ireland in the third millennium.