Comments on: Bulgarians and Romanians staying put

By: Eduard

Eduard — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:53:00 +0000

And…..Romania and Bulgaria are EEA members!!! This government really does’n read the news pappers? Let’s not forget that those east-european workers bilded this country. Have some respect, please.

By: Eduard

Eduard — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:46:52 +0000

Let’s not forget how manny jobs did the irish labours have aboard( USA, Australia, etc.). How is gonna be if those countryes gonna say bye-bye to all those irishies? And beside the fact that this is the moust racist country in europe(in all european newspappers)…… Problem is that moust of the immigrants are a lot more skilled than the local work force. Reason why they still got jobs the irishies not. A east-european, at the age of 20 is already have at least 4-5 qualifications.And they get the same pay here in ireland. They are NOT less-pay. Is about skills and not alcohol. A good company manager is always gonna take workers from aboard, specially from east-europe becouse are a lot superior in skills, to the locals. And they are payd equal or more also. Who said that those foreners comming, speccially from east europe are underskilled……is newer gonna manage anything is his life. He just does’nt know what is talking about. Just look aroud you. As a good manager your main interes is to have proffit, not underskilled ”workers”, smelling at alcohol or ”voma”in the morning.

By: Wednesday

Wednesday — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 22:51:50 +0000

Why would it be flooded by Romanian and Bulgarian labour through Ireland, when Romanians and Bulgarians could just as easily (and legally) enter Britain directly?

By: John Carroll

John Carroll — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:53:54 +0000

The point is that an agreement like Schengen is set in stone, and has fairly strong institutions behind it. The CTA doesn’t have any of that, and is based on little more than goodwill in both the Dublin and London parliaments. If there was a preception that the black economy in the UK was being flooded by labour, through Ireland, it could have negative effects for the CTA in a UK which is increasingly concerned about immigration.

By: Wednesday

Wednesday — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 19:30:42 +0000

I’m sure there are differences, but none of them have any relevance to this issue. The Bulgarians and Romanians as of 1 January will have the right to travel anywhere within the EU. That’s European law. Member states can limit their right to work, but they can’t limit their right to enter or even to settle in the country. So it makes no difference to any common travel areas within the EU whether one country grants them the right to work or not.

By: John Carroll

John Carroll — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 19:14:17 +0000

I was under the impression that there were a number of key differences between the CTA and Schengen, in particular with regard to the fact the CTA is not actually a formal agreement whereas Schengen is?

By: Wednesday

Wednesday — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:55:25 +0000

“If the Common Travel Area is to be preserved, we had to make that decision.”

Utterly false. Sweden’s CTA with the rest of the Schengen states wasn’t affected by their decision to let the 2004 accession nationals in. The CTA has to do with freedom of movement, which applies across the board to all EU nationals, including the Romanians and Bulgarians from next year. The ability, or not, to work without a permit has nothing to do with it.

There was never any real question that the Irish Government was going to make this decision. It was dictated entirely by public fears, most of which are falsely premised. A shameful but entirely predictable populist sop.

By: John Carroll

John Carroll — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 22:52:35 +0000

“while Fine Gael is using the ultimate cop-out: that we had to do it because of the common travel area. ”

If the Common Travel Area is to be preserved, we had to make that decision. It is basic common sense, and applies equally to the ID card debate. To categorise it as a cop out is a bit unfair, and lacking in appreciation for how the common travel area works.

By: Keith Gaughan

Keith Gaughan — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:07:21 +0000

But who has to do the mixing us or them.

All of us, Simon, immigrant or citizen.

By: Brian Boru

Brian Boru — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:53:21 +0000

This is the right decision but the govt must find a way to address the “self-employed” loophole, which is likely to apply for All-EU states regardless of what restrictions they impose due to the Accession Treaties. These countries are not ready for EU membership. They make our corruption look like a picnic in comparison. Organised crime is unpunished and people-trafficking through and from these countries is rampant. 400,000 Moldovans – 10% of the Moldova’s population – has already applied for Romanian citizenship in the hope of travelling West. Meanwhile Bulgaria is handing out Bulgarian passports to Macedonians and Serbs. They need a word in their ears over this. No more Enlargement. The people of the EU don’t want it, as shown by polls. It is placing intolerable population-pressures on the health-service and on schools.

In Cavan in recent years, there was a case of exploitation where Latvian fruit-pickers were paid under the minimum-wage. The employer used the excuse that they were self-employed and therefore the minimum-wage did not apply. I have grave concerns that this will become rampant now with Romanians and Bulgarians as they try to dodge our restrictions. We need vigorous and stringest enforcement of the mechanisms against exploitation and displacement agreed in Towards 2016.