Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, has said the findings of last week's survey on immigrants in the Irish labour market did not come as a surprise.

Minister Lenihan said the finding that overall, non-Irish nationals suffer a disadvantage compared to Irish nationals in the labour market was, as stated in the report, consistent with international findings on the labour market performance of immigrants.

Language represented a particular barrier to progress and he urged immigrants who wished to improve their knowledge of English to avail of language training provided through the VECs. The Minister said that 12,000 places were available this year for such students.

In addition, a number of local voluntary groups provided opportunities for migrants to improve their language skills. Many local library services also supplied assistance with language training, according to the Minister.

The Minister noted that a recent published survey of migrants in the Fingal County Council area found that 89 per cent of migrants claimed to have a reasonable knowledge of the language.

The Minister said that he was concerned about the findings of discrimination in the workplace and he again reminded employers and unions of their responsibilities in this regard.

The Minister said he would urge the National Employment Rights Authority, whose staff had recently been increased, to pay more attention to this matter.

As acknowledged in the report, the Minister confirmed that, in conjunction with the Equality Authority, his office would be funding work on promoting integration in the workplace, with IBEC, ICTU and Chambers Ireland.

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