The Department of Foreign Affairs has strongly denied claims that Ireland will be "flooded" with immigrants from Eastern Europe after ratification of the Nice Treaty. A spokesman said experience showed that large movement of workers did not result from the accession of new member-states.
He was commenting on a letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the then-minister of State for labour, Mr Tom Kitt in March. In the letter, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Cowen said:
"Ireland took the decision to allow the citizens of new EU member-states full and free access to live and work here from the first day of accession. I took the opportunity to inform the foreign minister of each candidate country directly in a letter last June. I understand that three other EU member-states, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, have also taken a similar decision to us.
"The rest of the existing member-states have reserved the right to restrict the access of citizens of new member-states (excluding Cyprus and Malta) for up to seven years from the date of accession. This position reflects the fact that certain member-states have serious concerns that immediate access could result in distortions to domestic labour markets. In fact, authoritative studies predict that such severe distortions are unlikely, and it is quite possible that member-states will be in a position to open up their borders sooner than the maximum of seven years."