It seems to be clearly established that that the overall effects of 50,000 immigrants a year entering the Irish labour market is not reducing employment levels. Figures show that since May 2004, when our employment market was opened to workers from the new EU accession states, the unemployment rate has fallen from 5 per cent to 4 per cent. So whatever displacement effects there might be it is not happening at a macro level. Furthermore, there is a solid consensus that immigration is necessary and that as an economy Ireland would be worse off without it.
To sum up the findings of the recent TNS/mrbi poll, clear majorities think the presence of foreign workers is good for the Irish economy and good for Irish society. But a large majority wants their number frozen or reduced, and favours the introduction of a work-permit scheme to control labour migration into Ireland. Many commentators are anxious that such findings are not interpreted as evidence of racial prejudice on the part of the voters. But what evidence will "anecdotal evidence" play in people's perceptions? If this is not to lead to all sorts of ill-informed speculation, rumours and general anxiety the government must do more to mount a serious campaign of information about the consequences of large scale immigration and answer the question about how sustainable all this is in the long term.
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