The Government's plans for immigrant workers are entirely economically driven, and designed mainly to bring in foreigners to do jobs that pay too little to attract Irish people. Businesses have told the Government there are up to 50,000 job vacancies in the State. The Cabinet sub-committee meeting under the Taoiseach's chairmanship on Monday will be discussing, among other things, how to create a pool of immigrant workers in the State from which these vacancies can be filled.

The announcement of a significant scheme is expected shortly.

Talk of "skills shortages" gives a misleading impression of the calibre of immigrant being sought.

A significant number of the vacancies, according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, is in the "hospitality" sector - hotels, restaurants and "event locations". In 1998, the majority of work permits issued were to allow foreigners work in service industries and catering.

The problem isn't that nobody in Ireland can do these jobs. It is that they choose not to, as there are better paid jobs available.

Of course some of the unfilled jobs do involve higher skill levels and higher pay. Most shortages of workers with computer skills have been dealt with.

However, according to IBEC, the ambitious plans for infrastructural development in the National Development Plan will lead to shortages of skilled construction workers. But the scheme under discussion by the Government contains the risks inherent in having a significant number of immigrants in low-paid jobs, living in relatively poor areas that would fast become seen as ghettos.

It would then be easier for people to appeal to populist opinion by suggesting certain areas are being "swamped" by immigrants.

If immigrants become a pool of cheap labour, it is only a short step towards seeing their existence as undermining pay and conditions of Irish workers. The potential for racial tension is obvious.

The Progressive Democrats' policy document published this week does put forward proposals to combat this possibility. The party proposes, and the Government is working towards, a policy of "dispersal": spreading immigrants around the State to ensure they are not bunched together in large ghettos.

The document also suggests education and public awareness programmes to combat racism, and a race relations forum to advise the Government. These proposals will be on the table on Monday when the Taoiseach, four Cabinet Ministers and Minister of State Ms Liz O'Donnell meet to discuss future strategy.

Of course Ms O'Donnell's concern was about the treatment of asylum-seekers, not the issue of immigrant workers. Asylum-seekers, who seek the right to live here on the grounds they are fleeing persecution at home, are officially different from economic migrants, who seek to come here to get work.

But the distinction has become blurred, and all sides of the debate accept a substantial number of those seeking asylum are not facing persecution at home, but are here to seek work.

However, many among the thousands of asylum-seekers who have come to Ireland this year are indeed fleeing persecution.

It was the sight of these people queueing for hours for basic services and in some cases sleeping on the streets that prompted Ms O'Donnell to condemn as a "shambles" and a "disgrace" the Government's "doom-laden ad-hoc policy".

Steps are being taken to streamline services. The Department of Justice has located 8,000 accommodation spaces for asylum-seekers through advertising in national and local media, the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, is seeking extra funding for additional staff, and has established a directorate to co-ordinate services provided by the various bodies and agencies working in the area.

While these measures may ultimately lead to a more orderly asylum process, this is just part of the immigration issue.

The thing which pulls non-EU citizens to Ireland is the same as has pulled them to Germany, France, the US and Britain for years: there is the promise of better paid work and a better life in Ireland.

The Government's intended response is based entirely on the State's economic self-interest.

A number of humanitarian concerns remain unanswered. Will these migrant workers be allowed come here with their families? Will they be sent home once an employer decides he or she does not want them any more?

Will there be a rapid annual turnover of migrants being sent home and replaced by new ones, or will those here for a period of time acquire any rights of residence?

Both Fine Gael and Labour go beyond the economic argument for immigration. Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, says his party favours establishing a quota of immigrants "on a green card basis", in other words on the permanent basis afforded to the Irish in the US.

The possession of skills should help a non-EU person get a visa, but should not be the only factor in the decision, he said.

Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, also said skills should be a component part of a decision on an applicant for a work visa, "but there must also be a humanitarian aspect. We can't just plunder the skills from Eastern Europe. We should take some people we can train as well."

Liz O'Donnell said on Wednesday: "We are well placed to formulate a compassionate and enlightened response to this phenomenon of migration by the poor and dispossessed of the world."

Should such a response emerge, it will not be based solely on economics.