Ms Fiona Ward:

The issue of workers’ rights certainly comes under the scope of the scheme in that workers’ rights are protected. All migrant workers are protected by the employment rights protections that Irish employment rights law confer. As I said, we have additional protections built into the employment permits scheme to protect the employment rights of migrant workers. This includes the fact they must have written contracts of employment, there are remuneration thresholds that have to be met, they get the employment permits themselves and they hold on to those and only copies go to their employers. They can move after 12 months and they can also move within 12 months if the employment does not comply with the terms and conditions of that written contract of employment. The employment permit itself has information on how to contact the WRC, with the contact information on the permit. When they contact the WRC, information is provided in a number of different languages.

What I was referring to was the development of the sick pay scheme that is currently under development in the Department. That is managed by a completely separate area than the area in which I work and it is not part of my current workload.