Ireland may make re-admission agreements with other countries of origin for the "civilised return" of their citizens if, according to international conventions, they are found to be economic migrants and not refugees.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, told the Dail that "preliminary discussions" about the matter were under way with Romania, whose citizens comprise the single largest group of asylum-seekers in the State.

Fine Gael's Foreign Affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, said some of those fleeing Romania were gypsies and under persecution, but this applied only to a small number. He suggested that because Romania was a potentially wealthy country, Ireland, along with other EU states, could make investments in such countries as part of an overall immigration policy. This could contribute to a "partial resolution" of immigration problems.

Ms O'Donnell said Romania was a democratic country and scheduled to join the EU. She agreed that many of those fleeing Romania and seeking asylum in the State appeared to be economic migrants rather than asylum-seekers.

"The official Romanian position is that there are no grounds for a person to flee the country to seek asylum. However, in line with our international obligations, we must make such a determination, in due course of law, if a person applies for asylum."

Labour's Foreign Affairs spokesman, Mr Proinsias de Rossa, said that no matter how well developed other economies might be, people would continue to want to migrate. He suggested that "this island would be empty, populated only by bears and wolves, but for the fact that many centuries ago, tribes chose to traverse the European continent and arrive here"

He called on the Government to produce "at least a discussion document on an immigration policy for the State". Ms O'Donnell agreed that there needed to be a "comprehensive approach taken to this issue rather than a narrow security approach". "It is high time that Ireland, as a modern, civilised country with a fast-growing economy, put in place a comprehensive set of policy initiatives and procedures to deal with this phenomenon," she said.

"Last year, 450,000 people applied for asylum in 29 industrialised countries. Ireland received about 4,000 of those people seeking asylum."