The findings of a new study, tracing the path of a group of Polish immigrants, will be discussed at a major conference in Dublin later.
It marks the end of a three-year research project by Trinity College Dublin which examined the effect of Polish immigration here.
It found that the Irish workforce has been forever changed as a result. More than 300,000 Polish nationals have arrived in Ireland since EU enlargement in 2004.
Professor James Wickham said: "We now live in a European labour market…It's a totally different situation to 20 or 30 years ago."