Dublin, 08/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Ireland, which is presiding the Council of the EU at the moment when ten new Member States are preparing for Union accession on 1 May, confirmed on Tuesday that it would be entirely opening up it labour market to workers from the new countries from the first day after enlargement and that it also saw in this gesture a kind of thank you for the welcome Irish expatriate workers received in the past from other European countries. Speaking to a group of journalists in Dublin, Prime Minister Mary Harney (in charge of employment policy) said that they wanted to give citizens from accession countries the same opportunities for working and learning abroad as Irish workers had in the past. Ms Harney also explained that Ireland (with an unemployment rate that is currently less than 5%) also intended to satisfy the needs of the country's own workers and that she did not expect an excessive influx of workers from the new Member States.