Less than half, or 45%, of Irish people now support the two eastern European countries joining the EU, down 9% from a similar survey conducted by the EU last autumn. Some 29% of Irish people are against enlargement . . . up 5% . . . and 26% 'don't know' . . . up 4%.

This increasingly negative attitude is mirrored across the EU, with support among the 25 EU states dropping from 49% to 45%, while opposition has increased from 39% to 42%.

While the two former communist countries have been granted permission to join, the EU will decide after September whether this will happen on 1 January 2007 or 2008.

Brussels will certainly have to note the increasing opposition to enlargement in Germany, where 66%, or two out of three people, don't want to see the two countries join . . . up 7% from last autumn.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs this weekend said it recognises the "need to take account of public opinion and also the need to better communicate the benefits of enlargement to the public".

The department has yet to decide whether Ireland will throw open its doors to workers from Romania and Bulgaria as, along with the UK and Sweden, it did in 2004 when ten countries, including Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, joined the EU.

At least 200,000 workers have migrated to Ireland from eastern Europe since then and now make up 10% of the Irish workforce. But following bitter disputes at Gama and Irish Ferries about the employment of foreign workers, and claims that Irish wages are being depressed by non-nationals, the government is coming under pressure to limit access this time.

"A decision on free movement of labour for Bulgarians and Romanians will be taken in the autumn, following discussion with our EU partners, especially the UK, with which we have the common travel area, " said a Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

The concern about migrant workers is strongly echoed in the EU poll which shows that 86% of Irish people . . . the second-highest in the EU . . .

fear that enlargement will increase illegal immigration in Europe. More than three out of four Irish people also fear that enlargement will increase the risk of crime . . . the fifth-highest proportion in the EU.

Also, while most EU countries believe enlargement will enrich Europe's cultural diversity, Ireland, along with Britain and Greece, is most concerned about the disappearance of cultural identities and traditions.