In a Seanad debate on 30 November 1999, I said:

In recent times we have heard a lot about how we should view this problem because we have a history of emigration and know how we were looked after.

I remind Senators that we are a nation of immigrants, whether Phoenicians, Celts, Normans, etc. It is only in the past 200 years that immigration has stopped in this country. We benefited from this diversity. We, as a nation, have improved ourselves. The culture and the economy of any country depend on that diversity and we benefit from it.

Everyone is saying that we should keep the question of asylum seekers separate from the question of the need to attract new immigrants with the skills we are short of. When approaching the refugee problem the very least we must do is apply both the national and international law. We must apply it diligently, promptly and with full regard for the humanitarian issues involved.

Having acknowledged the differences, there are also ways in which it is useful to consider the issues of refugees and economic migrants together.

The crunch concept here is one of openness. How open are our minds?  Are we to develop a fortress mentality by allowing a minimum number of people into Ireland in a grudging way or are we to display an open and welcoming mentality?

I am not keen on the idea of screening economic migrants so that the people we let in fit precise job qualifications. Some of the Irish who arrived in America with practically no shirt on their backs got to the top. They did so because of the type of people they were rather than the qualifications they had.

Therefore, I suggest that we should only demand that economic immigrants get a job. If they do not get a job within a certain period of time then they should leave and not go on the social welfare system. The social welfare system should not be available to them until they have been employed for a minimum length of time.

The Minister proposes to set up a body to match the skills of potential immigrants with the skills we currently lack. I oppose his proposal for several reasons. First, it would be another instance of the State setting out to pick winners, which it has not proved itself to be good at doing in the past. Second, it dodges the real problem. If there is a specific lack of skills, then that is an educational issue and it is one we can solve. The only right place to solve this problem is in the education system. Directly importing specific skills is a short-term stop-gap method of solving a problem when we really need to think in the long term.

I am against the idea of attempting to neatly match skills with shortages because in the real world that is not how economic migration works. Neither does it reflect the needs of Ireland today.

The reality is that most economic migrants come here not because they are head hunted for jobs at top prices but because they have an overwhelming need for a job. Many of them come because the jobs that are available are more attractive to them than to people who live here. They will either take jobs that other people do not want or they will work at a lower rate.

Equally, the real problem facing many Irish companies is not a shortage of skills at the highest level but the difficulty of getting people to do a certain job at all or to do those jobs at a rate which makes the business viable.

Some people are reluctant to acknowledge this truth because they think talking about it may create social conflict at a time when we are trying to hammer out a new partnership agreement. We must acknowledge it because businesses that cannot find people at a viable price are facing a dim future either because there will be no one to work or the business will price itself out of the market.

It may go against our liberal instincts to admit that we want economic migrants because we are looking for low priced workers but that is the reality. It is not easy to say that.

If we do not face that reality then it will inevitably result in a major influx of illegal immigrants. That would be a sure guarantee that people will be exploited in the short term and that they will become a serious problem for our society in the long term.

If we admit this reality then we can face up to the task of ensuring that those economic migrants are not exploited by employers or the system. They must be free to move upwards as far as their abilities will allow. As many Irish people know, the real strength of economic migrants is their wish to improve their lot and their readiness to work hard in order to do that. This has been proved by Irish emigrants.

They must also be given the ability to achieve security of tenure. We should not be tempted to fool ourselves into thinking that we can turn the economic migrants out at some point down the road when there is a downturn in jobs. We must recognise that if we welcome them in now they are here to stay.

Immigration is an unfamiliar challenge for this generation but much of our wellbeing in the 21st century will depend on our getting it right.

History shows that Irish people are extremely good at assimilating newcomers from wherever and however they come. We are good at using their strengths to forge a richer economic and cultural heritage.

That is the road we should seek to follow but we should do it now with a generosity of spirit, not in a begrudging way. I welcome this opportunity in our generation. Let us grab hold of it and make these immigrants welcome for the long-term benefit of this nation.