Ireland maintains restrictions because it learned its lesson with the Polish

The information published by the Irish media, saying that restrictions on the labor market for Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants will be maintained after January 2009, for three years, stirred various reactions among the Romanians in Ireland. Most voices accuse the Romanian political class for Ireland’s decision.

In brief:

– Some 50,000 Romanians live in Ireland, 28-30 thousand of them in Dublin;

– Only Romanians who were already in Ireland before Romania’s accession to the EU (January 1, 2007) are able to work legally;

– Only 241 work permits were released for Romanians between January 2007 and October 2008.

The Irish Government didn’t officially announced the prolonging of restrictions for another three years, yet the sources are highly credible. A final Governmental decision is expected these days. Ireland faces recession after 25 years of growth.

An increasing number of French and Spanish citizens look for jobs in Ireland, due to the increasing unemployment rate in their countries.

Paul Lupu, editor-in-chief with the only Romanian-language magazine in Ireland, says that the decision was predictable, since an economic crisis affects the country. „The problem is that they learned they lesson with the Lithuanians and Polish, in 2004, when they opened the labor market without restrictions and the wave of immigrants was a lot bigger than expected”, says Lupu.