Large number of immigrants from central and eastern European countries will not move to the Republic following European Union enlargement, the Irish Congress of Trades' Unions General Secretary, Mr David Beggs, has said. Mark Hennessy, Political Reporter reports
Rejecting fears that Irish workers' pay and conditions would be hurt by enlargement, Mr Beggs said: "I want to state emphatically that congress does not believe this to be the case."
An Irish "No" vote will not stop enlargement: "They will find a way to make it happen and we will not be forgiven either by the existing European establishment or by the accession countries.
"Enlargement will put great pressures on the EU, but if it happens by an alternative route then we will be blamed for the problems whether that blame is justified, or not.
"If we do end up marginalised as a result of rejecting the Nice Treaty it is clear that, as a matter of practical politics, it will be difficult for any Irish Government to win allies for any case that might wish to fight," he warned.
He said that he did not know if a "No" vote would threaten Ireland's hold on US multinationals: "Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. But as the representative of the workers in the factories funded by that investment I am not willing to risk voting "No"."
Fears about the impact of the arrival of the central and eastern European workers in the Republic were raised recently by Mr Anthony Coughlan, of the National Platform. However, Mr Beggs said most workers from these countries want to work in Germany, Austria, the US, Canada and Australia - if they want to leave their homes at all.
"The surveys also show that in central Europe the wish for short- and medium-term labour migration is much more common than the intention to emigrate for good," he told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, on Monday. The ideal for many workers in Poland, the Czech Republic and elsewhere would be to travel to work in Germany or Austria on a daily basis, or work there between Monday and Fridays.
"Working in the West and maintaining a household in eastern Europe secures on the one hand a high western wage level and at the same time allows one to profit from the lower costs of living at home," he said.
He rejected the argument that anti-Nice campaigners favour enlargement: " I suspect that a sizeable proportion of the people opposed to Nice are really opposed to enlargement," he said.
"In fact, I suspect that most are opposed to the very concept of the EU. Besides being in the Republic's interests, he said that ICTU will be supporting the "Yes" campaign because "the moral case for the integration of the accession countries is overwhelming".