Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I also welcome this legislation and the reference by Senator Hanafin to last year's European debate, when Mr. Anthony Coughlan snowed us under with information about how we would have to deal either with a "flood" of people from eastern Europe or else keep those people out. That fuelled an unnecessary and dangerous racist-based debate in this country and debased the whole European debate. One of the biggest difficulties we are dealing with in the area of permits is the polarisation of the debate. Some people take a racist view, demanding that foreigners be kept out, while others, who strangely enough describe themselves as liberals, take the view that anyone who wants to come into this country should be allowed do so without question.

In running a civilised, developed country, what we need is a civilised, open and humane managed policy. In countries where I have looked at this issue, managed policies have worked. As a country, our first duty is to our citizens, and then to citizens of our fellow member states. Policies need to be balanced with consideration for refugee, immigration and asylum issues. We need a humanitarian policy, one we can be proud of, to deal with those issues.

Work permits are essential to economic development. They must relate to the economic needs of a country and to its labour force needs at any given time. There is nothing wrong with saying, for example, that we need specific numbers of plumbers, teachers and members of other professions, with people to be admitted on that basis of qualification. Yet some people will insist that we are racist if we employ such a managed policy. There has been no understanding as to what precisely Government policy is in this area. It has changed from month to month. There is nothing wrong with change if we know the basis for it and the context in which changes are made.