Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 13 is a compromise amendment, the purpose of which is to address the concerns of migrant workers and enable them to work if they decide to take an action where a permit has not been renewed. Having listened to the Minister's argument, it remains my view that it is necessary to specifically provide for a mechanism that allows persons to be sufficiently confident to proceed with an action. Individuals will be prevented from taking actions if they do not have the economic wherewithal to survive in the period from the commencement to the conclusion of the action. People need to know that they have not only the right but also the means to take an action. If the legislation is to have a deterrent effect, it must provide explicitly for such a mechanism.

Amendment No. 14 addresses circumstances in which other employees in the workplace of the individual taking the case have incomes that are higher than the minimum wage or the rate set under a registered employment agreement. If, in such circumstances, an employer is required to compensate the individual at the level of the minimum wage or registered employment agreement, in other words, at a value less than would have been paid to the individual in question in the relevant workplace, it will mean that the employer, despite having broken the law, will be quids in, as it were, because the compensation paid will be lower than wage that would have been paid.

Surely that is illogical, if the Minister is trying to ensure that the person gets paid what he or she is entitled to and that it is a deterrent. I could take the risk of not registering a worker properly or not applying for a permit for him or her because if I get caught, the worst that can happen is I will have to pay the worker 80% of what I would have paid him or her if he or she was employed in a proper scenario.

Amendment No. 23 is an alternative to the first amendment to which I spoke, amendment No. 13. The idea here is to allow for an individual to gain relief or some mechanism of funds to ensure that he or she can proceed to use the structures that the Government is providing for. An individual who cannot feed and clothe his or her family and cannot pay the rent will not take the risk of going down that route.

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