Madam, - Simon O'Donnell (June 21st) asserts that "unregulated low-wage immigration" is undermining wages and conditions of Irish workers and that displacement of workers is "a fact of life". In support of his thesis he alludes to Manus O'Riordan, Fintan O'Toole and others who "have all produced research , supported by verifiable statistical data" to back up his conclusions.
However, he conveniently omits to mention a most valuable piece of recent research which demolishes his dubious conclusions.
I refer to last month's publication of the report entitled Freedom of movement for workers from Central and Eastern Europe: experience in Ireland and Sweden, funded by the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies and written by researchers from the the Irish ESRI and their Swedish counterparts.
This joint study examined the impact on the labour markets of Sweden and Ireland of immigration from the 10 accession states and as regards Ireland it concluded most emphatically that "there is no evidence of displacement of Irish workers at a macro level".
The ESRI study supported the conclusions of a global study in June 2005 by the International Organisation for Migration which equally was emphatic in stating that "concerns about immigrant workers spiralling out of control, causing job losses and increases in welfare spending were not supported by any evidence".
There is , I find , another objectionable and surreptitious aspect to Simon O'Donnell's description of this immigration from the 10 accession states when he names it as "unregulated low-wage immigration".
The EU guarantees the free movement of people within its confines and it is to the credit of Ireland, Sweden and Britain that save for limiting welfare allowances, they lived up to their responsibilities and opened their borders to the free movement of workers from these 10 states. It is true that immigration into Ireland reached a record high in the enlargement year - some 40 per cent of all immigration from these states - but 90 per cent of all these people were and are absorbed into the Irish labour force.
It is true that these EU 10 workers are largely concentrated in the construction, industrial and hospitality sectors, sectors not known as high-wage ones.
However, now to label this immigration phenomenon as "low-wage immigration" gives the definite impression that these EU citizens are somehow to blame for the low-wage sectors which pre-existed them in this country.
On the contrary, many of these people are highly educated and qualified and but for their poor linguistic skills they would be in the higher wage/income economy where there is need of them.
Finally, Mr O'Donnell points to an anxiety that we should all share. It should not be about creating alarmist and unjustifiable concerns about inward migration but about the effects this immigration into Ireland is having on the immigrants' countries of origin, which are experiencing a brain drain and a loss of a youthful and vibrant generation. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, The Moorings, Malahide, Co Dublin.