Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Minister for attending this debate. The Minister's predecessor in his post, Deputy Harney, decided with Government that the economic road we would take was one of attracting tens of thousands of immigrants into this country every year. That policy has not been adopted by every country. It was agreed on the basis of permits to employers, which in many instances came to operate like a bonded labour system, with many reports of abuses around the country. In that context I congratulate a number of trade unions, especially SIPTU and its officials, which over the past few years have followed in detail issues of exploitation and ripping-off of foreign workers brought in on contract and treated very badly.

How effective will the regulations be with regard to agents, agencies and people who find foreign workers? No matter what we try to do, there will be people in vulnerable situations who will be recruited by local agents, will end up owing them large amounts of money and will in effect be indentured labourers, but based in Ireland rather than in India or Pakistan, for example.

A report was published earlier this week by the child development initiative in west Tallaght concentrating on four of the poorest estates in that area. I remind the Minister of this in case it is forgotten. The report indicated that the level of unemployment in those four estates is 10%. I hope that in the rush to bring in immigrants we do not lose sight of the people in our communities, whether in west Tallaght, Blanchardstown or the Minister's own city of Cork. Many Irish people are not getting opportunities to participate in the economy. Many young men drop out of school early. Some of them have specific problems, but we have serious problems with regard to our own people participating. Government policy should focus just as much on giving opportunity to Irish people, wherever they live, as on bringing in immigrants, which in some instances is not thought through.

Like every Deputy, I am inundated by people who have come to Ireland to work, make a good contribution to the economy and who give their services. However, when for instance a child is born, a foreign grandparent cannot get a visa to visit. Regarding a green card policy, Bruce Morrison has done a great deal of work for Irish emigrants in America and on numerous occasions he has said that if one accepts a green card system of any kind, one must accept that a large proportion of the people availing of it will come to settle in Ireland, and that their families will come too. That is particularly true with regard to parts of the Indian subcontinent where the policy of marriages arranged by parents remains the cultural norm.

This is a difficult problem which the Minister must acknowledge. For example, we have large numbers of people employed at a high level in the computer industry in Ireland who originate from the Indian subcontinent. The issue of members of their families, or indeed husbands and wives, being able to come to Ireland, has not been resolved. I know the Minister's Department is not directly responsible, but this needs to be addressed. Consider, for example, how that situation affects a person who has developed a pharmaceutical company in Ireland. He is a doctor from some other part of the world and his wife is an Irish doctor. I know of one foreign person who won awards for an enterprise he and his partner set up. Happily, they had a child. The man's parents lived in the Indian subcontinent and it took almost two years of going back and forth to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to get a visitor's visa for the grandparents. The grandparents were people of significant means and there were no indications that they were going to come to Ireland and live off the Exchequer. These issues must be addressed.

Another issue arises more in the context of the next debate, namely coherence. Ireland has a significant development policy which we are continuing to expand and hopefully one day we will live up to the commitment of 0.7% of GNP promised in overseas aid. However, where is the coherence with regard to poaching from Third World countries some of the most highly qualified doctors, nurses and other professionals? If we take so many of those qualified staff from countries like the Philippines, South Africa and other countries with huge needs, what do we give them back? Is there a way of giving people a good opportunity to be in Ireland for a period of time, earning money and getting experience, but of also ensuring that if possible, their expertise, which is desperately needed in their own countries, particularly in rural areas of the developing world, is returned? In some ways this is an exchange. People are educated to a high level and are then poached by Ireland. Health services in many developing countries are thus left bereft of these badly needed professionals.

I ask for a coherent statement from the Minister about the Government's drive with regard to immigration, its implications for us as a society, and the implications of poaching staff from developing countries where they are badly needed. In conjunction with his colleague in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, would the Minister consider conducting a review of asylum seekers and compiling a register of skills, particularly of those with children who have been here for a long time, to see if some of them could fit into this category and be given the right to work and contribute to the economy?

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