Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 6, line 11, to delete "following section" and substitute "following sections".

Amendment No. 5 is a technical amendment and consequential to the insertion of two sections in the 2003 Act, section 2B in the published Bill and section 2C under amendment No. 14. Amendment No. 6 is a drafting amendment to the new section 2B inserted into the 2003 Act by section 4 of the Bill and ensures consistency with use of the term "service" in these provisions. With regard to amendment No. 7, I have followed the Younis case closely and we all agree it was shocking. We were shocked at the exploitation and injustice it highlighted. The objective of the new section 2B is to further deter employers from employing foreign nationals without an employment permit by permitting the foreign national and the Minister to take civil action for compensation against the employer, notwithstanding the illegality of the contract. This is in addition to potential criminal prosecution of the employer.
Deputy Tóibín's amendment deals specifically with this. Without necessarily speaking too much on the amendment until the Deputy proposes it, it would raise the bar in terms of what a foreign national or the Minister, in deciding whether to take a case on behalf of a foreign national under the new provision, has to prove before a court to get paid compensation. I will leave it at that until Deputy Tóibín speaks on his amendment.