Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 29:

In page 49, between lines 38 and 39, to insert the following:

“Changing employer

33.(1) A foreign national that has been granted an employment permit shall be permitted to change employer—

(a) after an initial period of 12 months has elapsed since the foreign national concerned first commenced employment in the State pursuant to an employment permit granted to him or her, or

(b) in instances where it has been demonstrated that that the foreign national has suffered exploitation, or any other unforeseen circumstances as determined by the Minister in regulation.

(2) A foreign national shall be required to notify the Minister of the change of employer through a notification procedure as determined by the Minister in regulation and shall not be required to complete a new employment permit application.”.

These amendments relate to the lack of support and flexibility for workers to change employer without applying for a new employment permit. It is a failing within the current system. The amendment seeks to change it. It will allow workers to change employer via a simple notification procedure, while remaining under their existing permits under the current system. The only way to change employer is to have a whole new application for a new employment permit. We know this is not a realistic option for the majority of employment permit holders since it requires a €1,000 fee, a labour market needs test for the position and a long waiting time, among other things. The proposed change removes the obligation for a new application and makes it a realistic option for everyone without fundamentally changing the system.

The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland has stated that such a change would give workers increased mobility, which would protect them from exploitation while also improving pay and conditions for all the workers in the sector, thus preventing a raise to the bottom and, it has to be said, rewarding good employers. If the workers have a choice to go or stay, they will stay where they are being treated decently and where they are not, will have the facility to go. This amendment does not fundamentally change the employment permit system. Under such a change there would be no need for a new application when the worker moves job. If they have already satisfied these conditions when they applied initially, they cannot move within the first 12 months other than in extreme circumstances. A worker still needs to renew the permit as normal when it expires, so there will be no loss of income or anything for the Department. Again, this is something that will facilitate workers where there are issues around exploitation and they will be able to move. At the moment, if they are being exploited, they are effectively tied to that employer, which I think is wrong.