Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Towards 2016 programme was only launched formally a few weeks ago but the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and his Department had set up a separate unit to engage with the social partners and move on legislation to address issues in a number of areas. The collective redundancy Bill will deal with the issue relating to Irish Ferries.

The Employment Permits Act which we passed last year and the arrangements announced by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on 24 January include a number of important protections for employees. An application for an employment permit may be made by either the employer or the employee but, in all cases, the green card or work permit will be granted and issued to the employee. Until the enactment of the legislation, the work permit had been granted to the employer. This provision will strengthen the position of the employee in the employer-employee partnership. The permit will contain a statement of the entitlements of migrant workers, a significant issue in recent years, including their remuneration, entitlement to the national minimum wage, right to change employer, accommodation allowances and deductions for board, an issue which arose during the Irish Ferries dispute. The permit or green card will be accompanied by a summary of their principal employment rights. The new Act expressly prohibits employers from deducting recruitment expenses from the remuneration of employees, as well as prohibiting them from retaining personal documents of the employee, including passport, driving licence and identity card. In addition, an employer who contravenes the provisions of the Act is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of between €5,000 and €50,000 or imprisonment for 12 months. These are all new powers.

According to Revenue and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, self-employment in the construction industry has reduced significantly. I have had this confirmed in the past week. The position of Romanian and Bulgarian workers is a separate issue, as they cannot enter the country to become self-employed.

Powers are in place to deal with illegal immigration and illegal work practices. The number of labour inspectors will increase to 90. Trade unions have been involved in consultation in this regard. On breaches of the Employment Permits Act, the Garda carries out inspections and takes prosecutions relating to employment permit and immigration offences generally. These inspections and prosecutions are prompted by the work permits section in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Whenever the section sees something dubious, it puts the Garda on to the company.

We must still bring forward legislation to deal with a number of areas covered by Towards 2016 but I do not know the dates for those Bills. An entire section is working solely on bringing them forward and it would be unfair to criticise the Department in this regard. Three Bills are required. The trade unions would state the collective redundancy Bill is the most important. It will be published and introduced in the House shortly.

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