Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The labour inspectorate of the Department is responsible for monitoring certain employment conditions for all categories of workers in Ireland, including immigrant workers. The inspectorate operates without any differentiation with regard to worker nationality as statutory employment rights and protections apply to immigrant workers in exactly the same manner as they do to other workers.

The labour inspectorate contacted the principal parties on this issue on Tuesday, 13 March and subsequently met with senior representatives of the ESB and its agents, and these contacts have been ongoing since.

In the meantime, inspectors have commenced inquiries with the contractor concerned in this case and have visited both the head office and the site in Moneypoint. Those inquiries are continuing and a further visit is planned. The inspectorate is examining documentation already obtained from the contractor, who has been fully co-operating with the investigation. Additional documentation has been sought and the contractor has undertaken to provide this material without delay. The investigation is continuing.

It should be noted also that in many cases current employment rights legislation has provisions whereby workers who believe they have been denied their entitlements, or otherwise unfairly treated, can, as an alternative to dealing with the labour inspectorate, take the matter before a commissioner in the rights commissioner service of the Labour Relations Commission.

Furthermore, the Deputy may wish to note that there are plans, albeit only in the early stages of preparation, for a major investment in a programme of information dissemination on obligations and entitlements arising under current employment rights legislation. The programme will be targeted at both employers and employees and will focus on particular audiences such as those engaged in sectors now generally populated by immigrant workers.

Section 37 of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 states that a person guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty, other than under this section, is provided shall be liable (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 —€1,904 — or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both the fine and the imprisonment, or (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 —€12,697 — or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

With regard to the issue of compliance with labour standards the remit of the labour inspectorate is to pursue compliance with the statutory entitlements provided for in employment rights legislation. The inspectorate has no role in the implementation of rates of pay or conditions of employment that would generally be referred to as industry norms. In the pursuit of its remit the inspectorate would engage in targeted campaigns, announced and unannounced inspection calls and the follow-up of specific complaints.

The current talks on a new national partnership arrangement include a focus on the applicability of employment rights entitlements in the context of public procurement.

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