European Commission officials said yesterday they had not found evidence of displacement of Irish workers since the accession of 10 new states almost two years ago.
Speaking at a migration seminar in Dublin yesterday, Michele Calandrino, a senior policy analyst with the European Commission, said the number of migrant workers arriving here was broadly in line with other European trends.
"In the aggregate, there is no evidence that migration flows into Ireland have caused any important disruption to the labour market. On the contrary, they have actively contributed to a strong economic performance."
Mr Calandrino added that while there may be reports of displacement in some sectors, employment was growing and the Irish economy was performing at record levels. "There may be winners and losers, however, and there is a necessity to support the losers through training and support, to ensure they are flexible and adaptable."
He added that the proportion of accession-country workers had been overstated in some quarters. Latest official statistics showed such workers accounted for 2 per cent of the working-age population in Ireland.
David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), told the conference, organised by the European Commission representation in Ireland, that there was an urgent need to plan and invest in integration measures.
He said population indicators suggested that by 2030 as many as 1 million, or 18 per cent of the population, could be foreign nationals. However, there was little sign that authorities were taking sufficient steps to encourage integration.
For example, schools with many foreign national students who could not speak English were hampered by a lack of teaching staff. This had knock-on problems for other students.
Mr Begg said a new legal framework was needed to protect workers from exploitation, as well as greater enforcement of existing laws and tougher sanctions to promote a culture of compliance by companies.
Heidi Lougheed, of the employers' group Ibec, said the vast majority of companies were shocked at reports of exploitation of migrant workers.
She said companies which had been experiencing growth problems due to skills shortages had benefited enormously from the accession of the new states.
