Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their contributions and opening statements. For the representatives of Safetynet Primary Care, how do their patients connect with their organisation? How do they know it is there to avail of its services? I note annex 1 to the written submission it provided sets out the various services on offer. I ask Dr. O'Reilly and Dr. Skuce to elaborate on that because it is comprehensive and there are some excellent elements within it.

As regards Amal Association, I thank Ms Alagha. The research is excellent. It is horrifying to hear of the experiences and discrepancies she described, as well as the macroaggressions and microaggressions. I can only imagine just how invasive, difficult and challenging that is, particularly in maternity, but also across all health services. It is very important. I am a little shocked that no training in cultural and religious sensitivities is available at this stage, given that having a fantastic multicultural society is not a new thing in Ireland. It has been the case for pretty much my entire adult life, which is, unfortunately, a longer period than I care to accept. There is no excuse at this point for that need not to foreseeable and taken on board. I am appalled that has not been done.

I ask Ms Alagha to share more detail on the yellow sticker initiative. I would like the committee to promote that initiative and do what we can to have a voice in it.

I propose that the committee write a letter to the relevant Ministers for a start based on the recommendations of Ms McGinley and put the weight of the committee behind that because she made very sensible suggestions. Outside the Houses, I am an employment lawyer by profession and have been approached for advice on many occasions through the years by undocumented people. I have had to explain to them that if one does not have the right to work, one does not have a right to the protections in place for workers, and that is unfortunate. However, it is a criminal offence for an employer to employ an undocumented person, so there is leverage. I have tended to use that leverage when negotiating with and pushing back on an employer, on a pro bonoand unofficial basis, in such cases.

It is problematic that employment permits are attached to employers. It gives them too much say and control and, invariably, that is at the root of bullying, control and coercion of people in many instances. Arising from the issues relating to the meat processing industry during Covid, I spent a long time thinking about how to get employment rights into the hands of people. Even if there were an information campaign on national radio or in newspapers, it would probably be in English. There is a need to meet people in their communities. For example, I started thinking about whether the church on High Street is a Polish church and whether that area is frequented by the Polish community. We need to consider where people gather and whether we could get information to them in those sites. I would be interested in any ideas our guests have to empower people to know how and to where they can reach out. For example, they should know that going to the WRC should not cost money. Having those rights of access is important. I would be interested to hear any ideas our guests have in that regard.