People from Bulgaria and Romania will not be allowed to work freely in the Republic for seven years after their two countries join the European Union next January, following a Cabinet decision yesterday.
The decision, which was announced within minutes of a similar decision by the United Kingdom, has been criticised by the Bulgarian and Romanian governments and the European Commission.
From January, workers from both countries will continue to require work permits, while firms wanting to hire them will first have to prove they cannot get staff elsewhere.
Further curbs may be introduced before both countries join the EU - to prevent workers describing themselves as self-employed in a bid to gain entry to the State.
However, Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will be free to travel and live here, even though they will not be able to get a job without a work permit and will not qualify for social welfare.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin said the Government's decision was justified because of the foreign workers now employed here. "The numbers have been extraordinary. This is one of the most rapid inward migrations ever experienced by any country. Other countries have taken 30 or 40 years to reach that point.
"This has created pressures in education, with housing, with traffic, with the health service. The challenge now is integration," the Minister told The Irish Times.
Ireland - which needs 50,000 foreign workers a year to fuel growth, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute - had "a sufficiency of supply" with the current arrangements in place, he said.
Welcoming the Government's decision, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said weak labour laws in the State meant many immigrant workers who arrived after 2004 had been exploited and there had been lower wages for some Irish workers.
Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Bernard Allen said the Government's decision to restrict full access was welcome, but inevitable following the British decision. While Ireland had benefited from post-2004 immigration, he said it was difficult for such a small country to open up when larger EU states maintained restrictions.
Ireland, the UK and Sweden were the only countries of the then 15-strong EU not to impose restrictions on migrant workers from the new member states when the EU enlarged in 2004.
Similar restrictions will be imposed by all the original EU states, except Finland and Sweden.
Yesterday, Poland and Slovakia said they would not impose restrictions on the rights of Bulgarian and Romanian workers.
Each EU member state can apply complete restrictions for two years, and then for a further three once notice is given to Brussels. However, curbs for the final two years can only be imposed if "serious disruption" would occur otherwise.
Approximately 80,000 workers from the 10 states that joined in 2004 are currently working here, with thousands more from longer-standing member states.
Criticising the Government's decision, Romanian prime minister Calin Tariceanu said his government "did everything it could to prevent this measure", which would "cultivate misgivings about the European Union". A spokesman for the Bulgarian embassy in Dublin said its government would "consider the possibility of introducing reciprocal measures".
