Vol. 573 No. 2
76 Mr. Stagg asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the evaluation done by her Department of the impact of the extension of the free movement of labour to the new EU member states from 1 May 2004; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24493/03]
Before deciding to grant full freedom of movement for purposes of work to nationals of the ten EU accession states, the Government had regard to the findings of a number of studies carried out on the likely impact of enlargement on EU labour markets. These included studies by Brueker & Boeri for the EU Commission (2000), Sinn (2001) and Salt (1999).
In general, research suggested that the impact on the EU labour market of the freedom of movement of workers after accession should be limited. However, it was expected that the predicted labour migration would be concentrated in certain frontline member states, resulting in possible pressures on the labour markets there. Concerns about the impact of the free movement of workers were based on considerations such as geographical proximity, income differentials, unemployment and propensity to migrate.
Analysis of Irish economic migration from the accession countries showed that, in 2002, just some 34% of personnel coming here on work permits were nationals of those countries. Indeed, the percentage has remained unchanged in 2003. This is at a time when very few other member states are open to relatively low skilled labour migration and Ireland may be particularly attractive at the moment.
After May 2004, nationals of the ten accession countries will be able to choose freedom of movement to seek work in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Spain and Greece, as well as Ireland.
