The "obsession" with questions of national sovereignty among European Union member states has hindered moves towards effective management of migration and must be overcome, according to Minister of State for integration Conor Lenihan.
Noting recent comments by EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini that the bloc would have to admit an extra 20 million workers over the next two decades to alleviate labour shortages, Mr Lenihan said he hoped the union would take a greater role in migration policy.
"I think the debate on migration issues has been overly dominated by an obsession with sovereignty and retaining control at the national level. In my view that has inhibited proper discussion and a proper management of the inflow and outflow of people right across the continent," he told a meeting held in Dublin yesterday by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance.
"We really do need to be brave enough in the years ahead to look at issues that we can actually push upwards to the European Union level, which can be better managed at that particular level rather than having the kind of sclerotic development of policies with regard to migration, with different regimes creating anomalies and difficulties."
Mr Lenihan said that while it was difficult to identity a European country that had "got it right" on integration, Ireland had the opportunity to "cherrypick" best practices. Some challenges were already apparent.
"We do, like many other European countries, have an underlying problem with racism and we do have a certain level of intolerance within our population to the newcomers," he said. While this was true of almost every European country, he added, "hopefully we can improve on that".
Responding to a question from Martin Collins of Pavee Point Travellers Centre, Mr Lenihan said that Travellers would not be included in the integration strategies being devised by his department. He has previously said that asylum seekers do not come under his integration remit either.
The chairwoman of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, Anastasia Crickley, said the focus on integrating immigrants should be used to look at broader inclusion issues.
"I think in the Irish framework, this opportunity to look at the inclusion of minorities, including Travellers and other minority groups who have been part of Irish society for a long time, won't come around again.
"If you look at integration in isolation from issues of inclusion of existing minorities, then we will probably have a one-sided approach."
Yesterday's meeting debated the findings of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance's recent monitoring report on Ireland. Outlining the report's recommendations on employment, Prof Gudrun Holgersen, a commission member, emphasised the need to raise awareness on the importance of combating racism in the workplace.
