Madam, - During the recent Dáil debate on the Immigration Bill, Mr Michael McDowell was speaking about the rapid change brought about by immigration when he remarked that Ireland "found itself sucked into a situation which many did not anticipate until it was upon us".
Ireland is now just 10 months away from another "situation". On May 1st 2004 ten new countries will join the European Union, following which large numbers of people from Central and Eastern Europe will begin to travel West.
When an EU citizen secures a job in Ireland, even at the minimum wage, that worker is entitled to bring his family here. In this case "family" includes not only his wife and children but also his parents, his wife's parents and even brothers and sisters once they are declared to be dependants. All of them are entitled to claim social welfare benefits and to avail of health and education services.
An EU worker is also entitled to apply for social housing here and must not be discriminated against in favour of Irish applicants on the housing list.
If an EU worker happens to lose his job he may opt to go home again and to have his Irish social welfare benefits transferred to him there.
The Danish government is so concerned about this particular facility that it is considering the possibility of reducing certain welfare benefits with a view to making Denmark a less attractive destination.
Although EU legislation concerning the free movement of people is not new, what is new is the accession of 10 EU countries all at one time, most of which have very high levels of unemployment and low standards of living.
As yet we have had no public debate on the likely impact of EU enlargement on our domestic labour market. The Government continues to rely on EU funded research which predicts that 75 per cent of migrants from prospective to current EU member states will go to Germany and Austria. But Germany and Austria are among the large majority of existing EU states which have opted to restrict access to their labour markets for up to seven years.
In contrast, our own Government proposes to deal with large numbers of migrant workers by reserving the right to close the stable door. Mr McDowell would be well advised to prepare for another "situation". - Yours, etc.,
CONOR O'BRIEN, Mount Anville Park, Dublin 14.