Mary Coughlan, Changes to be 'reasonable'
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Coughlan, has said that restrictions placed on workers coming from the ten new member states of the EU will be at least as robust as the British ones.
She told the Dáil this afternoon that the Government would introduce a new workers registration scheme and new conditions on qualification for social welfare payments.
Ten accession countries will become members of the EU on 1 May.
This week British Home Secretary David Blunkett announced a series of similar measures.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Coughlan said the changes would be directed at non-active people outside the labour market.
She said the changes would be considered and reasonable, but that there was an inclination that Ireland was now a soft option because of the situation in the UK and the rest of the EU.
