Post #9611

Speaking to Matt Cooper on The Last Word in 2007, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern admitted that immigration could not continue at the levels of the last 10 years and admitted that perhaps another percentage point, from 10% to 11% was as far as we could go. Taoiseach: "Our capacity to continue or to move beyond the 10% figure, I would have grave doubts about that. I'm not saying you can't go to 11.You can't go as we have done in a decade from probably 2% to 10 and in the next decade go from 10 to 20." Matt Cooper: "So does that mean we have enough immigrants who have come to the country at this stage, as far as you are concerned?" Taoiseach: "I think the numbers that we'll be able to take in in the next 10 years will not be able to match the numbers that came in in the last 10 years and I think that is self-evident. There is no country or at least very few countries with our size and capabilities would end up with 20% of the workforce non-Irish." Archive link