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

I thank our guests for their presentations. To make a general remark, this conversation has reinforced concerns I expressed at the most recent meeting a couple of weeks ago relating to the problems with the current heads of the Bill, the diminution of democratic oversight and public scrutiny by moving this issue to be dealt with by ministerial order. We are not dealing with the issue of a second tier of guest workers with employment permits tied to the employer.

I will direct a question to Dr. McGann. IBEC's position is that this Bill does not go far enough and that a model such as the lower skilled occupations visa used in Canada or the essential skills work visa in New Zealand should, effectively, be used here. The argument given for that approach, as Dr. McGann said in her opening statement, is that "shortages among lower-skilled workers and subsequent pressure on wages have the potential to be as harmful to the Irish economy as a shortage of skilled labour". Is it fair to summarise IBEC's position as wanting to have this new form of permits to bring in supposedly low-skilled workers and keep wages in large parts of the economy low because it is worried that wages may rise?