It has been revealed that children of migrant families attending schools in Northern Ireland have increased by 40%.
Northern Ireland Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey says the development is leading to a big increase in costs involved in teaching English to these pupils as a second language.
Costs involved in teaching them English rose to £1.5m (€2.2m) in 2004/5 and is expected to rise.
Today, Mr Empey is to have talks in Dublin with Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, as well as the Enterprise, Trade and Employment minister, Micheál Martin.
The future management of migrant workers on both sides of the border is expected to be among the main topics of discussion.
He said sharing best practice was vital. He added: 'There are concerns that, if in the event of the economy tightening a bit, what would be the impact of migrant workers competing with local people for jobs and houses'.
