Noel O'Flynn (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not propose to give further details of the case because the Minister has received a copy of the letter. I hope his officials are listening and will address the anomalies raised in the correspondence. It is not fair that a person issued with a work permit from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment may bring his or her family to Ireland, whereas an Irish citizen may not bring his partner and child into the country. Although it is legally possible for the child to enter the country, obviously children do not travel without a parent.

European immigration has been highly successful and many people from the new EU accession states have made a significant contribution to society. We have all benefited from their contribution to our economic, social and cultural life. Without their input into the construction, service and higher end IT and value added industries, it is unlikely the Celtic tiger would have purred along so successfully. The citizens of the new EU accession states who have set up home here, including Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Lithuanians and Estonians, are owed a great deal of credit and gratitude for the important role they have played.

I recently met the Polish ambassador at the opening of an important photographic exhibition in Bishopstown, County Cork. He informed me that in recent years 1.5 million Poles have spread out across Europe in search of work, experience and skills. The Poles, of whom there are upwards of 250,000 in Ireland, including a large community in Cork, are welcome because they are hard working, polite and respectful. While the ambassador accepted that his compatriots had made a significant contribution to the countries to which they had moved, he asked the Polish people assembled in the beautiful new library in Bishopstown, which is located next to the Tesco store, to return home to apply the skills and experience they have acquired and invest the money they have earned. He accepted, however, that many of them must remain outside Poland for a further short period to make money.

Ireland has experienced immigration much later than most of our European neighbours and is in a good position to learn from their mistakes, as we are doing. It is vital, as we move forward, that immigration is accompanied by policies which will ensure that integration takes place. We have, for the first time, appointed a Minister of State with specific responsibility for integration, Deputy Conor Lenihan. Approximately 40,000 immigrant children from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures attend Irish schools. To ensure they do not lag behind their Irish counterparts, we have recruited almost 1,900 language support teachers to meet the needs of children whose first language is not English. In some cases, the mothers of these children cannot speak English and are unable to help with their school work. The roll-out of adult education classes is also vital if integration is to proceed. More than 12,000 places have been taken up by migrants learning English in classes provided by the national network of 33 vocational education committees.

We have read much in recent press reports about the exploitation of migrants. I am pleased the law is being changed to provide that green cards and work permits will be issued to employees as opposed to employers. A key aspect of changes in the new legislation being rolled out is that permits will not be issued for jobs paying below the national minimum wage. I welcome the introduction of hefty fines and more serious consequences for employers who take advantage of migrant workers who work hard alongside Irish people.

A number of communities are experiencing difficulties with integration. I will give the House a flavour of the types of integration problems outlined to my Fianna Fáil Party colleagues and me by representatives of the Polish community at our meeting last Saturday. Other immigrant communities may be experiencing similar problems. Those who run mycork.org, a website for Polish immigrants, informed us that Polish is taught for a number of hours every week in St. Patrick's school in the city. Polish migrants favour more integration and while they do not want separate schools, they seek greater assistance from the authorities for teaching Polish, mathematics and other subjects that are taught differently on the Polish curriculum. Many Polish parents intend to return home with their children. The group indicated it had not made contact with State authorities on this matter or other matters. Perhaps it did not know how to access the authorities and it may have been unaware of what services are available.

From the note I received, I understand 1,000 Polish children and parents are involved in the classes at St. Patrick's school, which are recognised by the Ministry for Education in Poland. The Minister for Education and Science should examine what services are available for the various language communities to enable them to continue to study their national curriculum alongside English and Irish. Sylvia Adamska, a migrant officer from the west Cork community partnership who works with Poles and other immigrants in Bantry and Clonakilty, emphasised the importance of the project and asked for assistance for its activities. I understand funding for the project will finish in March 2008. She has written to the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, and I hope further funding will be made available.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Micheál Martin, and other Ministers were present at the meeting, which was a briefing for Fianna Fáil Members and councillors. I have no doubt the other parties will receive similar briefings. I was astonished to hear about impoliteness from officials in the social welfare service and the tax office, particularly where Polish people who had no knowledge of the English language were treated unpleasantly. This was also mentioned by a lady who acts as a translator for people dealing with State agencies and assisting Poles in accessing information or benefits to which they are entitled.

In the 16 years I have been in public life I have not heard a bad word about an official in any Department. They are always extremely polite and helpful. I raised this matter on Saturday, stating if this is true it is first time I have experienced it. Perhaps we will speak with people in State agencies and bodies to see whether we should provide Polish interpreters or Polish workers in the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners to deal with the number of people who wish to access the services.

Provision of official migrant workers' rights and entitlements in the Polish language was also requested. This would be helpful in raising awareness and self-confidence among migrants. A particular need exists for information on employment rights, taxes, working conditions and anti-discrimination legislation, which we recently introduced. The matter of English classes was also raised.

Another issue raised was the exploitation of migrant workers, which generally takes the form of underpayment of wages or non-payment of entitlements or overtime. The vast majority of employers pay immigrant workers from EU states the rate they should be paid and are not exploiting them. I must state some are unscrupulous and abuse EU and other nationals who do not understand the language and cannot find out about their rights. This is neither fair nor right. I hope our enforcement officers will deal with this, and I believe they are doing so.

This is a flavour of the difficulties experienced by one community. I am sure it is the same for other communities. The Government and local agencies must do more to integrate such people into our society.

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