The Dublin Chamber of Commerce has called for a "clear-cut" Government strategy to help its members hire immigrants to fill some 20,000 job vacancies.
Many people in the business community were confused about the working rights of non-nationals, the chamber's campaigns manager, Mr Ciaran Conlon, said.
"Businesses in Dublin want to employ people who are entitled to be here and work here," he said.
"They need the labour supply and the Government needs to be able to process people quickly and get them into the labour force. We reckon that greater Dublin would have just over 20,000 vacancies in many areas, including the high-tech sector and hospitality." Mr Conlon said immigration was, along with transport, "the main issue on the agenda in the city".
The chamber has published a report on the issue which it intends to circulate to its 3,000 members, as well as relevant Government Departments.
The report, A Changing Workforce, Non-Nationals and a Challenge for Today's Ireland, calls for a "sensible" approach to dealing with the immigration issue.
"Ideally we should be looking to ease the hardship experienced by those legitimately seeking to gain entry to the Irish workforce, while also easing the administrative burden on hard-pressed Departments of State and local authorities," it says.
While welcoming the Government's recent work-permit scheme allowing about 2,500 asylum-seekers to find jobs, the chamber wants more staff and training at the Department of Justice and the Eastern Health Board to speed up the processing of applications for asylum.
This would allow those entitled to work to find jobs and play their part in the economy, Mr Conlon said.
Many immigrants had third-level education and skills which would be suitable for the labour market, he added.
Meanwhile, the Fianna Fail TD, Mr Brian Lenihan, said the challenge for Government was how to provide for economic migrants and establish a policy to help Irish industry meet current skills shortages.
He said as Minister for Enterprise, Employment and Trade, Ms Harney was responsible for filling the skills gaps facing Irish businesses.
Mr Lenihan also defended the Minister for Justice's record on asylum-seekers and said a clear distinction was needed between the position of genuine political refugees, protected under a UN charter, and economic migrants.