Ms Edel McGinley:

I thank the Senator. There are an estimated 15,000 to 17,000 undocumented people in the country, of whom between 2,000 and 4,000 are children or young people. We are concerned that, given the way the current scheme is being drawn, it will exclude a significant number of people, so people will remain in situations such as those described by the Senator. We are conscious the scheme is imminent. A push from a committee such as this one would be very welcome.

The barriers faced by those who come to us are isolation, exploitation in particular sectors, language limitations and, perhaps, a lack of knowledge of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland as an entity. Another key aspect if people are to take action or combat exploitation is that they need to be able to take cases to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. It is a fundamental right for workers to be able to access the instruments and apparatus of the State that are set up to protect workers, but these workers are being excluded from that, which is a real issue.