Spring calls for debate on immigration

Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin yesterday expressed concern at the number of Romanians arriving in Ireland who may not…

Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin yesterday expressed concern at the number of Romanians arriving in Ireland who may not be legally entitled to work.

Meanwhile, former tánaiste and Labour Party leader Dick Spring has said there is a need for "an open debate" on immigration and accused politicians of being afraid to grapple with the issue.

The Irish Timesreported last week that there had been a surge in the number of Romanians entering the State. A total of 3,164 Romanians were allocated Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers last month, compared to just 813 for all of 2006 and 591 in 2005.

Romanians cannot work here unless they have a work visa or are self-employed.

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A reply to a Dáil question last month suggested just 17 work permits had been issued to Romanians.

On RTÉ Radio 1's Marian Finucaneprogramme yesterday, Mr Spring noted that at current levels of immigration, within four years 20 per cent of the population would be non-native Irish.

He said politicians were afraid to grapple with the issue for fear of being associated with "a taboo subject". He acknowledged that "Enda Kenny, in fairness, tried to start the debate but he got poo-poohed by the intellectuals and others".

It came down to "what number of people we can actually cope with," he said. "I don't know how Brendan Drumm, the HSE, is feeling about 200,000 more people to provide services for at a time when the health services are in crisis and will be for a long time to come given what is not happening."

He continued: "We need to see what the needs of the economy are, what numbers of people we can cope with in terms of infrastructure, in terms of health services. The debate during the week was all about schools and the lack of teachers to teach children who do not have English as a basic language. These issues are going to have to be faced up to."

Where existing immigrants were concerned, he said, "we are not providing any, adequate services in terms of integration. You see them in rural Ireland on a Friday evening going to the supermarket and off-licence, just stocking up for the weekend".

He added: "They are certainly not participating in Irish society at the weekends and I think that is extremely dangerous."

The Government placed work restriction on Romanians and Bulgarians when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU last month. There is no record of any PPS numbers being allocated to Bulgarians.