THE number of new work permits issued for foreign workers last year fell by almost 1,400 as a result of government moves to close off jobs for immigrant workers. The revelation comes as the ESRI warned last week that Ireland needs to attract at least 110,000 foreign graduates into the workforce up to 2010 to bridge the expected drop-off in Irish graduates.

According to figures from Fás, while the overall number of permits issued last year, including renewals, rose by 18% to 48,000, the number of new permits issued dropped by 6% to just over 22,000 as the government's clampdown began to take effect.

The government's move to protect Irish workers would appear to run counter to the ESRI's labour force forecast that even more foreign graduates will be needed to work here in the decade ahead than the 110,000 that arrived in the 1990s.

Last year, as the boom tapered off and unemployment began to creep back up, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published a list of jobs for which work permits would no longer be issued. These included clerical staff, builders' labourers, factory operatives, shop workers, bus and coach drivers, childcare workers, hotel receptionists and bar staff, as well as most of the trades such as brickies, fitters, electricians and joiners.

Tánaiste Mary Harney's department keeps this list under constant review and adds or deletes occupations as required. Last year, the department removed articulated truck drivers, aircraft mechanics, fish processors and plasterers from the banned list, indicating a shortage of Irish workers in those areas.

Overall, however, the government has moved to prevent non-EU workers taking up more jobs with one eye on the increasing unemployment figures here and another on the expected influx of workers from the 10 eastern European countries who will join the EU this May.

Currently, workers from these eastern European countries have to have a work permit to work in Ireland but that will no longer be the case after 1 May. Around one-third of all work permits issued are for workers from the 10 accession states. As a result, the department said that, up until 1 May next, it will give strong preference to work permit applications for workers from these countries. It has told employers that it will return new applications from workers from outside these states where it is satisfied that the work can be done by workers from the 10 states due to join the EU.

The Fás figures show that, while the economy is predicted to recover lost ground in 2004, it still expects the average number of unemployed to rise from 90,000 last year to 96,000 this year.