Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come to Mr. Berney for his view in a moment. I do not think it is fair to say that protections are in place based on what the figures from the Department regarding one sector suggest. We know that people are making out like bandits in this one sector with the money they are earning. Nearly 50% have detected breaches of employment law. It is not as if everybody is having their rights protected but it would be nice if they had a little bit of enhancement. It has been established that the minimum rights of workers in this sector are not being respected.

It is operating with half the personnel necessary. That level of personnel was deemed necessary. Mr. Berney reminded me of the days when I used to have to work for a living back in 2006 when Towards 2016 was negotiated. We had a very different labour landscape in 2006 from the one we are in now. One could argue that the 90 that were needed in 2006 could stand to be doubled or more and it would be useful for us to have that conversation with the WRC.

I do not think we can say that workers' rights are being upheld because they are clearly not. In a fractured situation that is not working for workers and in a labour market that is not delivering for them, bringing in more workers and expanding a group that we suspect is being exploited is probably not a very good idea now. I ask Mr. Berney to give his view on that.