A truer picture of the immigrant labour situation emerged this week with the publication of separate reports from the Chambers of Commerce in Ireland and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

The former revealed that more than a quarter of businesses polled had employed non-nationals in the past year. At the publication of the report, Tanaiste Mary Harney disclosed that 14,500 work permits had been issued to non-nationals in the first four months of 2001, compared with 18,000 in the whole of 2000.

The CIF said it expected to employ 20,000 foreigners between now and 2006 to ensure delivery of the National Development Plan on time. That is a quarter of all the labour requirement it foresees. It also called for a regulatory structure to ensure immigrants were treated fairly and that foreign companies tendering for work did so on the same terms as their Irish competitors.