Heidi Lougheed of Ibec's social policy executive said it was consulting with its members and taking their views on the likely impact of the forthcoming accession.

It seems that, for some employers, the question of migrant workers arriving following the 2007 EU enlargement is not as straightforward as it was in 2004. Then, Ireland, the UK and Sweden were alone among EU members in throwing open their doors to allow free movement of workers from states such as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

Across the Irish Sea the Bulgarian and Romanian question is a divisive one.

Richard Lambert, head of the CBI, recently announced that the group had reversed its long-standing open-door policy and called on the British government to postpone the granting of free access to workers from the new states.

Despite the "significant economic benefit" of migration to the British economy over the last four years, he said there were risks to be considered in widening the net.

"We run the risk of having an unskilled workforce, and there are clear links between skills, unemployment, health and crime. I think it is a social question of some importance. This is why we [the CBI] have said we should have a pause for breath before the next wave of newcomers, " he said.

There are no such calls from Irish employers, so far at least. Ibec may be keeping its powder dry but elsewhere employers are broadly of the opinion that the welcome should be extended to workers from the two putative EU members.

"The reality is that as an economy we did extremely well by opening the doors, " said John Dunne, chief executive of Chambers Ireland.

Dunne believes there is no reason Ireland shouldn't benefit to the same degree from Bulgarian and Romanian accession. He was, however, not opposed to the government proposal to impose stricter controls on the new entrants through the extension of a work permit scheme.

"I wouldn't argue with the principle that we have to manage immigration, " he said.

Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association (ISME) agreed.

"It's essential that there's a well planned and efficient policy brought in by the government to ensure that [migration] benefits both the country and migrant workers, " he said.

But he said the bottom line was that at present "we need all the help we can get. . .

There isn't a week goes by here that we don't have members saying where can I get workers in retail, construction, hospitality and whatever, " he said.

At the other end of the scale, the large, multinational corporations that make up the membership of the American Chamber of Commerce are finding themselves equally pressed and, unsurprisingly, are looking forward to having two new EU states to recruit from.

Joanne Richardson, chief executive of the American Chamber in Ireland, said a survey of its members showed that over 60% are planning to recruit additional staff over the coming year. At the same time, she said, many are experiencing labour shortages.

"One of the things that made US companies comfortable about investing in Ireland was the availability of highly skilled young people, " she said, but added that of late "the output is not coming".

"If [the accession] is going to bring in a labour pool that is going to complement what industry needs then it's very positive, " she said.