Labour leader Pat Rabbitte was criticised by the Government parties yesterday, but backed by the country's largest trade union Siptu, for questioning current immigration policy.
Minister for Employment Micheál Martin rejected the Labour leader's views, while a spokesman for the Progressive Democrats accused him of "pandering to the scaremongers".
However, Jack O'Connor, the president of Siptu, welcomed Mr Rabbitte's comments, which he described as "helpful" and "timely".
Mr Martin said the Government had no plans to look again at its decision to allow workers from the 10 new EU states to come to this country without having to go through a work-permit system.
He said Forfás and the Skills Expert Group had recommended that the country should have an inflow of 50,000 workers a year to keep the economy growing in a healthy fashion.
"Pat Rabbitte's views run counter to the position adopted by his party in the Dáil during a recent debate on work permits when the Government was accused of having too restrictive a policy on immigration."
A spokesman for the PDs rejected the claim by Mr Rabbitte that the proposed EU Services Directive would undermine the rights of Irish workers. He said the directive would fully respect minimum wage rates and the health and safety standards of the host country.
"The real question is whether the Labour Party has finally been flushed out as posturing as internationalist apostles of migration while bitterly opposing any economic measure which would give migrant workers from other EU states the same rights and opportunities that Irish migrant workers have enjoyed across the EU for so long."
However Mr O'Connor said he "very much" welcomed Mr Rabbitte's comments.
It was his understanding that what Mr Rabbitte was saying was that the labour market had to be properly regulated and standards had to be enforced, otherwise immigration would need to be dealt with differently.
It had always been the position of trade unions that, once the labour market was opened to workers from the new EU member states, radical changes were needed to the regulations currently in place.
"I think what Pat Rabbitte is saying is very similar to what we've been saying."
On RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland yesterday Mr Rabbitte repeated earlier comments made in an Irish Times interview in which he said that a new work permit system to control the numbers of people coming to work in Ireland from outside the State may be necessary.
He said such a scheme should be examined in the wake of the Irish Ferries dispute, although he did not say whether or not it should be implemented.
Mr Rabbitte said while the new diversity in the workforce would enrich Irish society, it should be "sensitively managed".
Deaglán de Bréadún writes: In a statement about "the ongoing debate on migration", director of the European Commission office in Ireland Martin Territt said: "A Europe of freedom is not a zero-sum game; it is a win-win for everybody."
Pointing out that Irish people had benefited from the chance to live and work freely throughout the EU, he added: "Now Irish people are returning the chance to their fellow citizens from the member states that have joined in the last 18 months."