Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Eamon Gilmore conveyed the decision to Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic at a meeting in Dublin.
In a document announcing the opening of the labour market, the Irish government said "it is highly unlikely that significant numbers of Croatians wish to migrate to Ireland... Ireland's current economic status presents a very weak 'pull' factor for Croatians."
The document says only 846 Croatian citizens are in Ireland at this moment.
"There is a very low propensity for Croatians to emigrate. A Gallup survey undertaken in 2010 suggests that the numbers of Croatians with firm intentions of leaving Croatia are relatively low (only 0.1% of the adult population or 4,000 people were considering moving permanently from Croatia in the following 12 months). Ireland did not feature as a target destination."
Also, Croatia's labour market is relatively small and the Irish labour market "is already open to an EU workforce of 229m."