Poland has agreed to introduce a readmission procedure to facilitate the swift repatriation of asylum-seekers whose applications are rejected by the Irish authorities. The Polish Prime Minister, Mr Jerzy Buzek, told the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in Warsaw yesterday that his government would co-operate with the Department of Justice to establish an efficient readmission procedure as soon as possible.
For his part, Mr Ahern ruled out introducing a visa requirement for Polish visitors to the Republic as a means of discouraging asylum-seekers and promised to issue more work authorisations to Polish citizens.
"We want to liberate the system, not to tighten it," he said after his meeting Mr Buzek.
About 600 Polish citizens applied for political asylum in Ireland last year but officials say that Poles are almost certain to be refused refugee status. Almost all the applicants belong to the Roma community, which has been made unwelcome in parts of Poland.
The Taoiseach told Polish parliamentarians the Government supported Poland's ambition to be among the first wave of new members of the EU. But he stopped short of endorsing Warsaw's target date for entry on January 1st 2003.
In his address to the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Committees of the Polish parliament, Mr Ahern warned that Ireland would oppose any attempt by candidate countries to negotiate sweeping, temporary exemptions from EU rules.
"It is precisely because the single market is one of the most valuable achievements of the Union, in terms of the benefits which it brings to its member-states, and which it will undoubtedly bring to future member-states, that we all must question very closely any proposed transitional arrangements or temporary derogations which could seriously distort its functioning," he said.
Many Poles view Ireland as a model for their EU aspirations, but the Taoiseach warned against making facile comparisons between the two countries, particularly in the area of agriculture. The Taoiseach had a short meeting with President Aleksander Kwasniewski yesterday afternoon before meeting member's of Poland's Irish community in the evening.
