Dr. Peter Rigney:

I would make two points in response. First, it is not Irish people and local people. There is a labour market of, I think, 55 million in the EU 28. We as unions get complaints and the last one I heard was from a very vocal shop steward in a company who was giving out about what he considered to be an abuse of work permits.

Second, in order to evaluate the case, one has to look at the evidence. Normally, when I am dealing with a company which is in difficulties, I go to the Companies Registration Office to look at its last filings. In some of these sectors, one finds a multiplicity of companies, sometimes hundreds of companies, within the one family which are availing of the small company exemption or are registered in the Isle of Man or Jersey. There are companies in the food sector in particular which are highly profitable and are flagships of the Irish food industry. They still manage to pay a decent wage and their reports are regularly available on the Irish Stock Exchange. There are also some people who avail of their constitutional right to privacy to have a network of private companies. I can only go on the evidence I can find.