Bulgaria and Romania may be joining the EU on 1 January next, but it would appear that it will be some years before citizens of that country will be free to come and work here. There has been no official announcement . . . the cabinet won't formally decide until later in the autumn . . . but take it as read that there will be no repeat of Ireland's far-seeing and broadminded gesture of two years ago when workers of the 10 new EU states were allowed instant access to the Irish labour market.

Sadly, the motives behind the government's decision to put a block on Bulgarian and Romanian workers for between two and four years will have nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics.

Economically, it makes complete sense to open up the labour market to the citizens of the two new EU entrants. Ireland needs migrant workers to sustain our economic growth.

We were one of only three countries to allow workers from the 10 accession states to come here, and that bold decision has been an enormous success.

Some 251,000 PPS numbers have been given to workers from the 10 states, who have been manna from heaven for a hungry labour market that cannot get Irish people to fill the jobs available. Many of the people who come here, despite being highly educated, are doing jobs that we, in our new enriched state, no longer want to do.

It stands to reason that those workers have benefited financially from coming here to work. But it is important to remember that the indigenous Irish population has also benefited financially from their arrival. Without the sweat and toil of those who migrated here, the economy would not have grown at the strong rate it has. More workers will be required over the coming years, so it makes economic sense to increase the available pool of labour and fasttrack access for Romanian and Bulgarian workers.

The government will argue that further time should be given to 'bed down' the current situation, but that is a nonsensical argument. The current situation does not need to be 'bedded down' . . . it is working perfectly well, and the addition of citizens of two further countries to the 24 that already have the right to come here and work is not going to upset that.

However, it is not economics but politics that will dictate what the government does. Perception is everything in politics, and there is clearly a perception in some quarters that there are too many immigrants in Ireland, and that Irish workers will lose . . . and possibly already have lost . . . out because of that. It doesn't matter that there is absolutely no evidence . . .

repeat, absolutely no evidence . . . of displacement of Irish workers. Politicians are running scared as their focus groups show that immigration will be a major issue for people as we approach the next general election.

Instead of leading on the issue . . . and stressing the positive role played by economic immigrants . . . the main political parties are following and pandering to the lowest common denominator. The government is, with good reason, afraid of being outflanked by Fine Gael and Labour on the issue.

When the traditionally politically correct Labour Party is warning that job displacement may be inevitable, it is clear that any hope for a reasoned, intelligent debate is lost.

With a general election just nine months away, it is probably futile to raise the morality involved in any decision on Bulgarian and Romanian workers. But it is impossible to ignore the reality that Ireland has exported millions of its people over the last 150 years . . . including to EU countries. Now we have an opportunity to balance the books a little for two countries that have struggled badly during the 20th century. Do we really want to close the door to Bulgaria, a country that six decades ago . . . despite being allied with the Axis powers . . . heroically refused to hand over the 50,000 Jews living inside its borders to the Nazis? That gesture alone surely warrants that we extend the hand of friendship.

The government will no doubt argue that the big EU powers such as France, Germany and Italy have failed to open up their labour markets to workers from the 10 states, never mind Romania and Bulgaria. That is of course hugely regrettable. But in an Irish context, that would only be relevant if our economy was like it was 20 years ago, with 20% unemployment and zero growth, where we simply could not cope with tens of thousands of new immigrants. But economically, we can cope . . . in fact, we need these workers . . . so we don't have to set our standards by what the likes of France and Germany do or don't do.

Sixty years ago, at the height of German efforts to deport Bulgarian Jews to concentration camps, a member of the Bulgarian parliament, Todor Kojukharov, argued: "The only moral capital a small nation has is to be a righteous nation."

In relation to Bulgarian and Romanian workers, it's not too late for us to be a righteous nation.