MAGDA PIELECH (30), a Citrix support account manager, came to Ireland three years ago and Citrix is her first employer.

She said she came over because her friends told her how great Ireland was.

As soon as the Irish Government opened the market for Polish people to work here without a work permit or visa Pielech decided to make the move. Before she came she put in months of planning and research about Ireland and where to live, what to do and so on.

"I was well prepared but I was surprised, for instance, by how nice and friendly people were in the tax office when I went to get a PPS number. I did have some problems setting up my bank account but I didn't really have any major trouble or issues."

Of course certain cultural barriers still had to be surmounted and Pielech found the Irish way of conversational preamble, even in business, as something she had to learn.

"In Poland when you talk on the phone you get to the point straight away. In Ireland you like to say 'hello, how are you', chat about the weather and so on and only then do you get to the point.

"At the very beginning people were asking me how I was but I was getting straight to the point so I had to learn how to do this and I realised you get more from people by engaging with them this way."