Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

We will come to that. As I have said, a narrow economic consideration of this country's skills needs is the basic tenet of the Government's policy in this regard. The Government is not operating on the basis of a wider policy framework. The long-standing laissez-faire policy of the western world, which caused Irish citizens to suffer throughout the 20th century, is now being pursued in this country. Such a policy does not involve any consideration of its effects on the countries of origin of migrant workers. I refer to its effects on health and education services, for example, as well as on the overall fabric of the societies in question. Above all, it does not involve any consideration of the circumstances of individuals, who are treated as objects or automatons. If a country is robbed of its young and educated professionals, it will be left to stagnate. Its young and sick people will be deprived of essential services and its old people will be deprived of their pensions. Are we doomed to repeat the flawed policies which ensured that Ireland remained an impoverished country for 150 years, while its citizens built the houses, highways and economies of Great Britain, Australia and the United States? Surely there is a better and more humane way of dealing with this issue. It is important that we regulate our work permit policy, but first and foremost it is necessary that we have a migration policy which deals with the movement of people, not simply the movement of jobs.

Last month, Mr. John Dunne, chief executive of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Employment that the current system treats migrant workers as disposable labour, simply filling a short-term gap. I am sure the Minister has been made aware of that. Individual skilled workers matching individual skill shortages is the wrong way to go. The Minister appears to have relied heavily on the recently published report of the Forfás expert group, Skills Needs in the Irish Economy: The Role of Migration, which promotes this narrow labour market approach. The Minister should rethink his approach. He should learn the lessons from the past and avoid the temptation to think that might means right and that the spoils of the marketplace can be plundered in the same way that the spoils of war were plundered by conquering armies in the past. The Minister's policy is wrong because it is discriminating. It picks and chooses only the brightest and best from countries which can ill afford them to leave. It is nothing more than a recruitment service for temporary positions vacant in Ireland Incorporated. When those scarce skills have been picked from eastern Europe the Minister will go to the rest of the world and pick them from Third World countries.

A totally new and holistic approach is required. It is true that the labour market here will determine our needs in terms of work permits but two things must be done before we start to mix and match. First, the labour market is not an independent, free wheeling mechanism outside our control. It is driven and regulated by State investment, tax incentives and internal and external markets. The €46 billion national development plan approved in 2002, not to speak of the €34 billion transport plan announced last week, have a significant impact on infrastructural projects such as road and bridge building in particular. Extensive tax incentives have a major impact on the building of houses, hotels, nursing homes, and so on. The construction industry is booming and the Government is pouring fuel on the fire.

Paddy Punch, a respected economist, has predicted that if we continue as we are until the year 2025, within a single generation we will have a non-national population of people not born in Ireland amounting to between 25% and 33.3%. Clearly, a small homogeneous country like Ireland cannot receive unlimited numbers of foreign nationals without experiencing severe social strains, the creation of ethnic ghettoes, a rise in antagonism, hostility and downright racism or providing oxygen to right wing parties and individuals. The experience of France which has a non-national population of approximately 11% is a tragic reminder of how a society can fester and explode when it isolates and rejects its migrant workers and immigrants and fails to assimilate them. It is time for the Government to address the lopsided nature of our economic boom, to eliminate the let-it-rip mentality and to plan and chart our economic progress.

Second, we must conduct a regular and comprehensive analysis of the labour market to determine our present and future needs. In reality, the needs of our economy are not to be found in the area of high skills but in the area of low skills. The building industry, the catering industry and agri-business are the main centres of employment in Ireland. Virtually all of these are low skilled sectors that employ manual rather that white collar workers. Therefore, the Minister's sole policy of matching individual employee's skills with individual employer's needs cannot work as a general rule. The broader unskilled labour market requires a pool of workers who can and should be recruited on a much wider and more generous basis where willingness and availability to work are the key criteria. The Minister should revisit the core of this legislation.

An immigration agency should be set up which would allow people to be recruited in different countries and these people would participate in a proper green card system. Potential employees abroad could apply at a consulate or embassy or directly to a Department. Preferential status could be given to applicants who have ethnic communities already rooted in Ireland. A favoured nation approach could be taken that reflects our overseas development aid policy.

We could also favour countries like Argentina that are in dire economic straits, and where there is a large Irish community dating from the 19th century. Argentina constantly bombards the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to allow preferential status in terms of allowing its nationals to come here or to provide rights based on its citizens having great-grandparents from Ireland.

National quotas could be put in place and the successful applicants would receive work visas entitling them to work here for a fixed number of years. If this arrangement was considered satisfactory and there was no criminal involvement, the visas could be renewed and these workers could if they wished be on a pathway to permanent residency, which is denied in the present system. The green card here is not a green card in terms of what it provides. The immigration agency could manage the process. This system would have the further beneficial effect of dealing with the present chaos which besets the asylum process whereby economic refugees have no choice but to apply for asylum in the hope that they will eventually be allowed to remain here and work. This new system would allow for asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution to be processed in a fair, firm, efficient, speedy and transparent manner. The present chaotic system that is the asylum process could be unclogged and streamlined.

Whatever system the Minister ends up with, he must recognise that everything has changed. The situation has changed utterly in terms of the profile of the population in Ireland now and in the future. In the 1990s the majority of immigrants were Irish people repatriating from Britain, the US and Australia. They filled the new job opportunities that presented from the Celtic tiger. Last year that category still remained the highest single profile of immigrants, at approximately 28,000, but it was followed by Poland with 17,000. Furthermore, it is a rapidly decreasing percentage of our new immigrants. Pressures of accommodation present for all immigrants but for non-nationals the problems are much greater.

There is a need for training, language courses, education, awareness and cultural understanding. There is also a need to promote a positive view of immigrants as a boon not a burden, a blessing rather than a curse. State agencies must be proactive in promoting good race relations, equality, cultural diversity and understanding among our own people. A forum must be created for interaction and consultation with the new communities of immigrants to welcome and integrate them. I have never seen any refugee or asylum seeker socialising in a public house and it is difficult to find them participating in the social scene in general. The same is true with immigrant workers coming from eastern Europe. They are not integrated in any way into our social scene. They operate separately from Irish people. We are not doing what we should to integrate immigrants. Multiculturalism and inter-culturalism must be promoted. Those who come to work here, obey the laws and leave should be equally welcome whether they wish to integrate or not. The challenge for us is to develop policies and structures and to manage immigration in a productive and humanitarian matter. It will not be done by the narrow robotic tenets in the Employment Permits Bill. I suggest we establish the status of immigrants who have come to this country over the past ten years. To the best of my knowledge, no survey has been done covering areas such as accommodation, payment, integration, employment, length of time spent here and the number who have put down roots here.

I heard what the Minister said about bringing forward legislation to introduce a proper green card. I then heard the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform come up with his own proposals. I believe he has wandered into the Minister's territory. He said he will allow the reunification of families based on their ability to support themselves. I would have thought that was a decision for the Minister but the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has promised proposals in the next two weeks or so. Will the spouses of those who have got permits to come to this country be allowed to come here? Many people working here are separated from their families. They cannot get a visa so that family members may visit. It is a big humanitarian issue which is not addressed in this legislation or elsewhere. Perhaps the Minister would take a leaf out of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform's book as he is quick to table amendments to legislation. Rather than introduce another Bill down the line, the Minister should table amendments to this legislation in regard to the green card and family reunification.

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