A new report claims the government’s immigration strategy is rudimentary and that a lack of consensus on policy among government officials is causing confusion. The study says that while immigration has had a beneficial effect on the Irish economy, failure to make full use of many migrants’ skills has resulted in “brain waste”, leaving highly qualified immigrants in low-skilled jobs.
The report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was presented to cabinet last week. The IOM has calculated that if Ireland had fully utilised the abilities of immigrants then gross national output would have increased at a faster pace in the five years up to 2003. It blames employers for not recognising non-Irish qualifications while saying that a lack of English language is also a factor in some cases.
“The reality is that it’s often not ignorance on the part of employers, it’s just that they need hands, not skills,” said Catherine Cosgrave, acting chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI).
“There is a language problem, but also skilled people can’t find high-skilled work that they should be doing so they are forced into jobs like cleaning.
“This means their talents are being wasted and they are de-skilling themselves, which means even their home country is losing out on well trained people returning with new skills.”
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Cosgrave said that more needs to be done to match people to jobs that suit their talents.
For the first time the study estimates the value of money sent home by immigrants — more than €100m in the past two years. The report says the beneficial impact of this money on the country of origin is reduced because of the high cost of transferring money in Ireland.
At present the Financial Regulator does not provide lists comparing the costs of money-transfer vendors.
Some 251,000 people from the 10 accession state countries have applied for PPS numbers since May 2004. Last July alone, 19,000 people from accession state countries, including 14,000 Poles, applied for the numbers. It is not known how many of those who apply for numbers remain in the country.
While non-Irish migrants are predominantly young people without dependants, this trend is expected to change as more migrants settle in Ireland and are joined by their families. The report says a government shift in policy may not succeed in stopping the influx of migrants.
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While the report found little evidence that Irish workers were losing out on jobs, it warned that lack of enforcement of existing labour laws had the potential to stir resentment about immigrant workers.
According to the report, government policy will have to “protect the employment prospects of Irish workers” or immigration will not be supported by the majority of the Irish population.
“Better enforcement of employment laws for all workers is likely to ensure that migrants do not undercut natives by accepting lower wages and worse working conditions,” it said.
The report criticised the fact that immigration policy is decided among three departments: justice, social affairs and trade and employment for causing Ireland’s migration policies to be delivered in “silos”.
Cosgrave said this reinforced the ICI’s calls for a single department to be established to deal with all migration issues.
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The report was commissioned by the National Economic and Social Council which is expected to make additional recommendations to the government this week including whether Romanian and Bulgarian workers should be entitled to work in Ireland from next year.