Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. He is getting fond of this House and seems to be coming in quite a lot in recent days. The Bill covers a range of issues related to employment permits. I welcome the fact that it addresses the loophole related to the dreadful treatment of Mr. Mohammed Younis who was exploited for years. This is what I tried to achieve through a Bill I introduced about 18 months ago, entitled the Employment Permits (Amendment) Bill, to which Senator White referred.

I felt that it fell to us as legislators to remedy the anomaly that affected certain non-national workers. That particular case was very sad. The person in question had been here for a number of years and had been treated almost like a slave. Given that his employer, to whom he was related, had kept his first-year work permit, it turned out that he was an illegal worker and was thus unable to address the issue with his employer.

I had my Bill examined by a number of experts who advised that it was watertight. That is why I was disappointed that the Bill was rejected by the Government on those grounds. While I will not directly accuse the Minister of plagiarism, he copied some of the wording from my Bill precisely. My wording in section 4A is almost the same as in the Bill before us. I am sure the Minister meant it as a form of flattery but I would have appreciated being credited. However, Senator White has gladly made up for that today.

It is a pity that legislation to protect workers such as Mr. Younis has taken so long. In the two years since my Bill was ready, many other cases of exploitation have probably occurred. I do not know for certain but it is quite likely that they have.

Under the terms of the Bill, it is welcome that there is an ability to seek some redress against employers who exploit employees. It will also allow undocumented workers to apply for a new work permit in cases where they have become undocumented through no fault of their own. I hope Mr. Younis will be able to get redress and that this Bill will set the conditions so that such cases will likely be reduced. If similar cases do occur, however, the employee will be put in a much stronger position. The Minister will say that part of his objective is to achieve that and I hope he will achieve it in this case.

The Minister referred to the ICT sector which we have debated here on a few occasions, as well as at the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. As many as 5,000 job vacancies could be filled if we only had the requisite ICT skills. I am not sure that changing visa requirements alone will attract the necessary number of people to fill those vacancies.

We need a big change in our education system in this area. Neither the Department of Education and Skills nor the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation systematically collects, analyses and distributes information on jobs that students get after graduating. I have been involved with the Springboard scheme for a few years. It is interesting to go back and see how many people availed of that scheme. Springboard is the HEA body that identifies people with third level skills that may not be suitable for the moment, so they are steered on to other jobs. These critical data will help us to get people to study in areas like ICT. The collection of such data is absolutely crucial for policy-makers.

Some European countries, including the Netherlands and Italy, collect vital figures on jobs that graduates get. We should seek to emulate those models. These data are vital for future planning, especially in terms of youth employment and further education, but we are not currently collecting such data. Could the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation collect and publish data on what jobs graduates get?

I would like the Minister to comment on this. This is crucial when it comes to planning for further education and training so that students are directed to critical areas, such as ICT. This would be a concrete way to help to get people to study ICT and thus fill the massive shortages in this area. It would complement the recruitment of foreign nationals.
To further this idea, would the Minister consider the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation rating universities and higher education institutions on the success rate for graduates getting jobs? It would possibly encourage people to choose different universities, improve standards and encourage universities to offer courses following which there are job openings. I am glad the Minister is setting the conditions for interns and others to get hands-on experience in companies but in terms of filling the gaps in ICT, we should look at ideas in other countries. In 2010, South Korea created a network of vocational meisterschools. The word "meister" is the German word for master craftsman. It did that to address the country's shortage of machine operators and plumbers. It is interesting that the South Korean Government pays students' room and board as well as their tuition. We have a massive shortage of ICT professionals here. Could we consider something similar to address that skills gap? We know there is a skills gap but what are we doing to address it? We need to give some very specialised assistance to ICT. Giving incentives to foreign students in this area could improve the educational standards as well as getting them to stay on in Ireland and filling some of the vacancies.
There is a need for language skills for ICT jobs. When it comes to filling gaps in the ICT sector, one of the things that is missing is getting Irish people to speak foreign languages. Getting the ICT skills is fine but that is often not enough as the large ICT companies want ICT skills plus foreign language skills. We need to be innovative in this area. I hope I will be able to speak directly to the new Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation about this issue.
I have always been very keen on this question of getting children to learn a foreign language. I think I told the Minister previously that my wife and I sent all our children to school in France for the summer term when they were approximately 13 years of age. There was only one problem in that the two girls fell in love with French men at the age of 13 and are now married to French men. We have a load of French speaking grandchildren, which is wonderful.
I have spoken here before, although maybe not to this Minister, about the Michel Thomas method of teaching a language because it breaks it down into component parts and enables learners to reconstruct the language. This is a British system, which is not unlike our Gaeltacht system. I never really developed my Gaeilge skills except when I went to the Gaeltacht and was immersed in and spoke the language. The Michel Thomas system, which is used in Britain a lot, is a wonderful one for people who have never learned to speak a foreign language. An article in The Guardianstated that he astounded staff at a school in north London by teaching a group of teenagers deemed incapable of learning languages. In one week, they learned the amount of French it normally takes five years to acquire. The Minister and I have attended French classes. We have not become fluent enough to be able to handle everything, although maybe the Minister has. I would like to think we were capable of doing that.
The No. 1 way to learn languages outside of school in the UK is now the Michel Thomas method. Has the Minister come across this method? Would there be a possibility to trial the method in some of our schools or even in the workplace? It is a method that must be given serious consideration. I remember when Hewlett Packard or another company announced that it had 50 jobs on offer and it was asked what skills were required. It mentioned the skills but it also said the ability to speak a modern foreign language. One of the reporters said that no Irish need apply because we are just not very good at them. We really must do something about that. I know it is not this Minister's baby but it should be part of his remit and whoever takes over as Minister for Education and Skills.
I would like to see big tax breaks for companies to buy language lessons for their employees and give them one to two hours off per week to do the classes. Would the Minister be open to a tax break in this area? That would be a massive statement to the outside world that Ireland is serious about its workforce upskilling and it would mean a large number of Irish people could fill ICT vacancies. Will the Minister comment on the idea of utilising a language teaching method, such as the Michel Thomas method? I have never met Michel Thomas but it seems the system is amazing.
Along with getting skilled foreign workers and easing the employment permits process, we must look at upskilling existing workers and getting the concrete data on what jobs graduates get. That is crucial to directing people to areas where there are massive shortages, such as in the ICT sector. The Minister has identified these shortages and is working on them. We must really concentrate on them over the next couple of years because I think we can work wonders. I congratulate the Minister on the Bill, which is worthy of support.