Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Ward for the presentation. I wish to make some general comments and then to put a question. First, the legislation as envisaged is problematic, fundamentally for two reasons. One is the point that Deputy O'Reilly made about shifting from a legislation-based system to a regulation-based system, which diminishes the democratic oversight of the Dáil. It makes it easier to make changes. That has a real impact in providing less certainty and security for migrant workers because their circumstances can be changed by virtue of employer lobbying or an economic downturn, without a need for legislation. Effectively, it copper-fastens the concept of a type of guest-worker system with lesser rights. One can say they are entitled to all the same rights, and that, strictly speaking, is true, but their employment conditions can be changed overnight by regulation and then they can be forced to leave the country.

The second and substantive issue is that the general scheme does not propose to do what was recommended by this committee previously, which is that work permits should not be tied to a particular employer. This is the central issue. The reason it is inaccurate to say that they have the same rights as everybody else is that their continued life in this country is tied to the continued agreement of their employer. It creates a massive and bigger power imbalance than normal between workers and employers. It definitely leaves them ripe for exploitation. Why was it decided to keep that crucial point of the permit being tied to a particular employer?