Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

——concerns the newspaper reports of the case of a migrant worker in a restaurant who was awarded €116,000 for gross abuse by his employers. The worker had almost no time off and had no terms and conditions of employment. The employment law compliance Bill on the Government's priority list is meant to establish a new statutory national employment rights authority, the associated board and related matters. I hope the Minister knows it is of serious concern to the trade unions in social partnership and to workers throughout the country that this case is just the tip of the iceberg in regard to the exploitation of migrant workers. When will the Government produce this Bill and the other legislation it has promised? If it is not produced, the whole structure of social partnership may well be endangered.

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