EU employment commissioner Vladimir Spidla has downplayed fears of mass migration from Romania and Bulgaria to Ireland when the states join the EU in January.
He has also stressed the positive social and economic benefits of facilitating the free movement of workers in Europe but acknowledged that the Government had the right to impose restrictions to protect its labour market.
"For good social and economic reasons it is advisable to facilitate the free movement of labour within the EU internal market but that does not restrict states from applying transitional measures," he said at the launch of a European-wide jobs fair in Brussels yesterday.
Mr Spidla said Ireland and Britain were both marginal countries for Romanian and Bulgarian workers, hundreds of thousands of who have already sought jobs abroad in states such as Italy, Spain and Greece. He said he did not expect to see any significant migration following accession that could damage either country's labour market.
Mr Spidla said Ireland and Britain were free to implement transitional restrictions on workers from both countries for a maximum of seven years under the EU treaties.
Ireland, Britain and Sweden were the only EU states not to place any restrictions on workers from the 10 new member states when they joined the EU in May 2004. But Ireland and Britain have indicated already that they intend to impose restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian workers when the two states join.
A formal decision on the type of restrictions that will be applied by the Government is expected to be announced sometime before the end of the year. However, the restrictions will only apply to workers as Romanians and Bulgarians will be allowed to travel to Ireland as tourists for a period of up to three months under EU law. Mr Spidla made his comments at the launch of the first EU-wide jobs fair, which is an event to highlight that 2006 is the "European Year of Workers' Mobility".
The jobs fair will take place in all 25 EU states - Iceland, Bulgaria, Romania and Norway, and offer people seeking work access to overseas employers and recruiters.
"The fair is an excellent example of different political, social and economic actors joining forces to spread the word about the advantages of a free labour market to workers," said Mr Spidla.