The Government is preparing to block social welfare entitlements for immigrants from new member-states in central and eastern Europe for two years, it emerged last night.
The move is one of a range of measures which appear to go further than those envisaged on Monday by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
The Taoiseach had said that the measures would not be "as tough or as hard" as those being introduced in Britain. But the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, said yesterday that the Irish measures would be "no less robust" than those in Britain.
With Ireland the last of the current EU members to signal such restrictions, immigrants from the 10 accession states will have no automatic right to welfare benefits in any of the 15 existing member states.
In addition, the Government is discussing the possibility of asking immigrants from the accession states to leave the State if they do not find work. This debate centres on the legal mechanisms required to give the State such a power, according to sources close to Ms Coughlan.
The Minister said in a statement that the Government was obliged to ensure that the Irish system was not open to abuse. The measures would be sensible, considered and reasonable, she said.
The initiative came only a day after the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, signalled moves to deny benefits to east European immigrants and deport them if they refuse to work.
The Government feared that immigrants expelled by Britain would exploit the common travel area to come to Ireland and seek social welfare benefits here.
Under the existing system, such immigrants would have had an automatic entitlement to social welfare benefits in Ireland. Ms Coughlan said: "I am concerned that as a result of the latest announcement by an EU state on travel restrictions that Ireland would remain the only country that had not put in place protections for its welfare system. Because of our common travel area with it, it is now important that we put in place some conditions."
However, the Greens questioned her logic. The party's social welfare spokesman Mr Dan Boyle said: "The impression that people from these countries will come to Ireland in order to abuse our social welfare system is not only insulting to these people, it is not even grounded in reality.
"The truth is that not even Irish people can live properly on current social welfare levels."
He added: "Irish standards of living and the Irish cost of living are way beyond comparable levels in the accession countries. Therefore, why would anyone take on a much higher cost of living in order to receive the minuscule social welfare payment available?"
A spokesman for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said last night that there would be no restriction on the number of east Europeans allowed to work in the State after the accession. The Government wants to make the restrictions in time for the formal expansion of the EU on May 1st.
They will be published within days in the form of amendments to the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which gives effect to the changes in welfare benefits outlined in the Budget.
The Bill will be the subject of a second stage Dáil debate today.
