An ESRI report has claimed that the influx of over 185,000 workers from EU accession countries into Ireland since 2004 has not displaced Irish jobs.
The independent think-tank found that 53,400 migrants came to Ireland in the first 12 months after enlargement, of which 40 per cent were from the new EU member states.
The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta were admitted to the EU's 15-state bloc in May 2004.
The majority of the accession state migrants who came to Ireland in 2005 were Polish, followed by Lithuanians and Latvians.
A total of 186,000 PPS numbers were issued from May 2004 to February 2006 compared with only 35,000 from January 2001 to April 2004. Over half of the numbers issued between 2004-2006 went to Polish nationals.
Up to 90 per cent of adults from accession states take up jobs compared with 62 per cent for Irish nationals. Immigrants from the accession states usually work in the construction, industrial and hospitality sectors, and the unemployment rate is 2.6 per cent.
"There is no evidence of displacement of Irish workers at a macro level," said a report compiled by economists Nicola Doyle, Gerard Hughes and Eskil Wadensjo.
The report was funded by the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS) and written by researchers from the Economic and Social Research Institute, the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University and SIEPS.
PA