Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution on the Employment Permits Bill. I listened carefully to many of the contributions today and I compliment my colleagues on them. When speaking on the legislation, it is important to be careful about our phraseology. It fits into the kind of week we are having in Dáil Éireann where partnership appears to be the theme. There is much talk about partnership and some union-bashing taking place. It will be interesting to see how the Private Members' debate on Irish Ferries proceeds and concludes tonight.

I would like to acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, whose work I am always happy to applaud. He does a great job on our behalf. He gave me an excellent Dáil response last week, which I would like to acknowledge.

I represent the constituency of Dublin South-West, which includes the major population centre of Tallaght. Since I first became involved in public life as a member of Dublin County Council in 1991, particularly over the past three years when I have had the honour of being a Dáil Deputy, the workload has changed and different issues have arisen. With other Dáil colleagues, I addressed a meeting in the National Library, organised by the Community Platform. While it touched on some of the issues relating to this Bill, it related generally to poverty and other issues of concern to many groups. I made the point that my nine weekly clinics have become a multicultural gathering. Issues now arise that did not arise three, five or ten years ago. Issues relating to this Bill are being brought to our attention, which is fair enough. It fascinates me that local people bring what I might describe as the "international community" to meet their local politicians. This indicates clear integration in these communities between local people and immigrants.

I live in a parish where there are challenges related to foreign nationals seeking employment. I live in an estate which was founded in 1972, and my local junior school, St. Mark's in Springfield, has approximately 300 international children out of an enrolment of approximately 500. It is clear that communities such as Springfield and Tallaght have changed over the years, partly as a result of some of the issues we are discussing this evening.

There are also issues relating to social welfare, whereby unemployment figures are increasing in communities when jobs are clearly available. This relates to the issue of work permits. The point was made that the Bill is another response to our skills and labour force needs,.

A number of different organisations in my constituency, particularly in Tallaght, have raised issues with me. I have also been in receipt of representations, which have been copied to other colleagues, from the Migrant Rights Centre in Ireland which is based in Parnell Square. A group from that organisation contacted me some time ago because they were anxious to visit the Parliament. People from a number of different countries arrived that evening and I introduced them to other colleagues. These people raised concerns about work permits being issued for two years, workers employed under work permits being allowed to change jobs and giving migrant workers employed under both categories the right to family reunification. While I am aware that organisations are entitled to make known their point of view, I am merely putting it on the record. Organisations who go to the trouble of contacting Members of the Dáil are entitled to a voice. I expect the Minister and his officials are considering the various representations received from various groups, not just in our communities but from centrally-based organisations. I hope the Minister will respond in this regard.

The Minister made the point that he had two key objectives in introducing the Employment Permits Bill. He is anxious to put in place a framework where he can implement and manage an economic migration policy, the details of which he confirmed in his speech. He also referred to providing a number of new and important protections for migrant workers. Migrant workers and their rights have been discussed over a long period. It is important to acknowledge that economic migration policy responded quickly to the improvement in the economic performance. This includes the reduction in unemployment and the resultant labour shortages.

My community is the third largest population centre in the country. I often said that Tallaght had the population of a city but the status of a village. Now, however, not only have there been huge improvements as far as the provision of infrastructure, facilities and services is concerned, but people are working, which is important to acknowledge. Prominent Opposition spokespersons from almost all parties no longer refer to Ireland's economy being in poor shape but to great progress. I am aware there are challenges in this regard.

Last week I met with visitors from Australia who had visited Dublin previously. They made the point that it has changed completely. They noticed a real change in many of the services available, including hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets. This is happening in every community throughout the country. It is right that the Minister should take account of these issues and challenges.

The situation has changed even since the accession of the new European member states on 1 May 2004. There are real challenges as far as migrant workers are concerned. In fairness — I will be brave enough to say it — not everyone in the country is happy about this change. My colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Brennan, has dealt with this important issue. After the legislation is passed, there will be challenges, and it will be interesting to see how the debate will continue. I do not believe the debate will end when the legislation is passed. There will always be issues and challenges.

The involvement in our economic success of migrant workers has been acknowledged in the legislation; the Minister made this point when introducing the Bill. Opposition colleagues will make different points — they may dot the i's and cross the t's, which is fair enough. However, I hope the legislation will be seen in a positive light as a response to the situation as it develops. We must be responsible in how we respond, the language we use and our attitude to getting the message across to our communities. Every community faces debate, difficulties and challenges and it is important that we should be responsible and, in particular, that we should be careful in our choice of language.

Last weekend I returned from the Ukraine as part of an Oireachtas delegation. It was an amazing experience and it was interesting to visit a country which also had a big brother neighbour to see how it is coping and developing. I tabled parliamentary questions this week on this and similar economies. Nowadays, Ireland has an amazing reputation abroad and the reaction of people when they realise one is from Ireland is interesting. It would not have happened years ago.

Ireland has gained an amazing reputation following the success of social partnership. A number of colleagues have been critical of this process but I have been a strong supporter. I come from a working class background and I was a trade union activist for a long time, although I made a clear choice to join Fianna Fáil. The party has a proud record of promoting social partnership. The Taoiseach has been a strong advocate and this has been acknowledged by Opposition leaders. We should be proud of the progress made and I hope those who criticise social partnership understand we must be careful not to tear down the fabric of the system. We are entitled to raise issues and score political points but, at the end of the day, the abolition of social partnership would be chaotic for everybody, not least the workers the Minister is trying to protect in this legislation.

The Bill provides that employment permits are granted to the employee and that the permit will outline rights and entitlements of the worker concerned. It prohibits recruitment related deductions from remuneration and the retention by the employer of the employee's personal documents. The legislation will also empower the Minister to formulate parameters within which an active economic migration policy may be pursued. This will be welcomed given that many Members have had to make representations on behalf of migrant workers who felt the need to speak out about their position. They will feel these new provisions are progressive. It is fair to put the emphasis on the worker rather than giving powers to employers to treat people as they wish.

Section 13 deals with the governance of the numbers and employment types for which employment permits may be granted. This should be examined in the context of the development of our economy. The domestic workforce needs to be supplemented in a number of industries. Some people in our communities will always be critical of migrant workers and the international community and they will feel there should be another way. Constituents often say to public representatives that our first priority should be to look after the local workforce.

I feel strongly about the future of social partnership and the need to support that process in every way. Much political debate involving both local and national politicians has centred on social partnership. While it is not under threat, people are having a go at it. Colleagues will raise this issue again later during Private Members' Business. While I am interested in the debate on Irish Ferries, I will also be interested in how the Tallaght players, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane, are getting on with the national soccer team. I hope the Opposition will not seek many divisions so that we will be able to watch Ireland beat Switzerland.

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