THE GOVERNMENT is still considering whether to opt in to the EU's "blue card" initiative, which aims to attract highly skilled immigrants to the union, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.
Although the Government decided in January against adopting the proposal at the initial stage, officials said yesterday that its merits were still being examined.
The blue card, modelled on the US Green Card, aims to make it easier to attract some of the estimated 20 million skilled workers needed by the union's economies over the coming decades.
The card would offer migrant workers and their families two years' residency in any state in the European Union where they are offered a job.
They would also be able to move freely across the union and take up job offers in other member states.
Addressing the joint Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny yesterday, Kevin O'Sullivan, an official at the Department of Justice, said the Government's considerations were at an early stage but that Ireland could be in a position to adopt it by the end of the year, if desired.
At the same meeting, Tony Donohoe of Ibec said the blue card was a "step in the right direction" to improve access to European labour markets.
Mr Donohoe also said that the current age threshold of 30 years for blue card holders should be changed.
While arguing that a pan-European approach made sense, Esther Lynch of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions told the committee that the blue card must not be allowed to lower standards and that it must respect the principle of equal treatment of workers.
She suggested that blue card holders should be free to change jobs, as it was wrong for an employer to control one's presence in the country.
Ms Lynch also said that the age threshold of 30 years should be removed because "discrimination on the basis of age has no place in the world of work."
The meeting also heard from Hilkka Becker, senior solicitor with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, who argued that if Ireland was to decide not to opt in to the blue card proposal, it could put Ireland at a competitive disadvantage when trying to attract highly skilled migrants to work in the State.
However, by adopting the blue card proposal, Ireland would also need to opt in to the EU directives on family reunification and long-term residency.
"The blue card proposal specifically says that the directives on family reunification and long-term residents 'shall apply' under this proposal and, since Ireland has not opted in to either of those directives, it is difficult to see how it could comply," Ms Becker said.
Siobhán O'Donoghue, director of the Migrant Rights Centre, said Ireland's stance of opting out of EU directives on immigration was problematic and expressed concern at the possible impact of the blue card on "brain drain" in the developing world.