David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 54, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:"(6) Section 20 of the Act of 2006 is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (5)—

"(6) The Minister may, on application made to him or her, waive the prescribed fee.".".

We want the Minister to waive the fees in certain circumstances. We want to include this provision to enable the Minister to waive fees in hardship cases where applicants are seeking to renew a permit but cannot afford the fee. The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland has lobbied all of us on this issue. I am sure it has also lobbied the Minister also. The centre has highlighted the cost of work permits in the State as has the European Committee of Social Rights, which considers the fees charged for permits to be excessive and not in conformity with Article 18 of the Council of Europe's European Social Charter. The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland has recommended that the fees for work permits be reviewed and amended to bring the State back into compliance with Article 18 as well as for a provision to waive fees in exceptional circumstances. Our amendment deals with the latter recommendation but we also call on the Minister to deal with the broader point of the cost of fees in the first place. We ask the Minister to support the amendment, give a commitment to review employment permit fees within the next 12 months and bring the State into line with the cost of permits in other European countries with reference to whatever the European average is.