Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue related to this legislation, the ongoing crisis in Paris Bakery. Shockingly, six years into the crisis we are still confronted with workers who, through no fault of their own, are not being paid for work done and who are not granted holiday and redundancy entitlements, etc. by unscrupulous employers. We are still faced with a regulation and legislation gap and a result fail to uphold their rights. A wall of redundancies has hit the State during this period. Each of these situations - tens of thousands of people are affected - is a fiercely traumatic experience and leads to income insecurity, reductions in standards of living for those involved and their families, as well as the associated stress of meeting financial commitments. There is a particular sharpness to the experience of a subset of this group, amounting to thousands of workers, because they are left with nothing. They are left with no safety net to prevent them falling as they lose their jobs. That is why some 24 months ago I tabled legislation in the Dáil which would have prevented the experience of the staff of Paris Bakery and safeguarded their rights. Simply put, I sought to ensure workers would get what they were entitled to. That is why it is difficult for people when they hear the words of Fine Gael and the Labour Party on this issue. These words ring hollow because two years ago the Government opposed legislation tabled by Sinn Féin which would have resolved these issues. I call on the Minister to ensure the necessary safeguards are put in place as soon as possible and that we will not be subjected to hollow words from the Government on this issue in the future.

The Employment Permits (Amendment) Bill is important legislation, specifically because of the inequity in workers' rights. In 2012 Mr. Justice Hogan found that existing employment permits legislation left undocumented migrant employees of rogue employers in a precarious position. Under the 2003 Act, these singularly vulnerable workers are automatically guilty of an offence for taking up employment without a permit. In short, the existing legislation automatically prohibits any defence or recompense where wrongdoing by an employer has occurred. Let us not forget the dire circumstances of the man at the centre of the case in question after he arrived to Ireland from Pakistan in 2002. Muhammad Younis worked seven days a week for pocket money in his cousin's restaurant until in 2009 he sought the assistance of Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. During this seven year period his employer did not regularise his employment and retained his passport. The Labour Court found in his favour and he was awarded €91,000 in compensation and back pay, yet when his reprobate employer sought a judicial review, it was found that the current legislation provided no saving clause, as noted by Mr. Justice Hogan, for this most vulnerable migrant worker.

Naturally, this was not a legislative revelation to either this or previous Governments. Migrant Rights Centre Ireland has been highlighting this loophole in the legislation since 2006. That said, the Minister's action to ensure a rogue employer will no longer be able to benefit in the courts from a situation in which he or she has exploited an undocumented worker is welcome. Enabling undocumented migrant workers to take a civil action for compensation, notwithstanding the illegality of their contract, is an important deterrent and will service society and the economy well.

It would be helpful if the Minister set out why the legislation limits the compensation to be paid to the minimum wage or rates of pay fixed under or pursuant to any enactment. Let us suppose the employer in such a case has paid his or her waiting staff above the minimum wage, for example, €10 an hour. Why legislate for the payment of compensation based on a lesser amount? While the Bill provides for a minimum level of compensation, this is already provided for as employers cannot pay below the minimum wage. If an employer is found not only to have conned a migrant employee into thinking his or her employment status was regularised but also to have paid less than the minimum wage, surely the employer has fallen foul of two legislative requirements.

While I accept that this compensation will not be treated as reckonable payment within the meaning of social welfare legislation and entitlements, this section highlights a particular concern. If an individual is not allowed to work, and on the basis that a civil action can take some time, we can conclude that he or she would not have the necessary supports to feed his or her family, pay rent and so on while seeking to expose wrongdoing. If this Bill is to act as a real deterrent, it must facilitate those who are brave enough to expose wrongdoing. If it disempowers them from raising their concerns and being able to use the legislation, surely it is not worth the paper it is written on, and we will simply see the practice continue.

While the business representative groups have not yet set out their response to the legislation, the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland has welcomed its provisions. Broadening the eligibility for highly skilled occupations will, the chamber claims, boost companies with a heavy reliance on niche skill sets, including fluency in less common languages. Accelerating recruitment processes by reducing bureaucracy and enabling senior executives to be based in Ireland for the initial stages of a start-up will aid foreign direct investment, FDI. Introducing such flexibility into the system makes sense.

A dual objective of these flexibilities is to strive to arrive at a place where such recruitment requirements could be met from our own graduate pool. Departments do not work together properly when it comes to shared objectives. Our economy and society are becoming more complex, and policymakers need to respond. We do not object to the Government's response to emerging employment needs in areas such as ICT and languages, but we question its ability to ensure that these needs can and will be met by Irish graduates. As a small, open economy, we will never be able to meet exactly the specifications of every possible job that enters the country, but with 388,559 people currently on the live register, the Government and policymakers need to set about matching industry needs with graduates and workers while ensuring that such persons have the necessary skills to fill the majority of those jobs.

This legislation acknowledges that we have skills deficits in some areas. The situation needs to be addressed urgently. It is my strong view that this can be done in part by a deeper integration of senior departmental officials and Ministers in an environment that vigorously pursues shared policy objectives and encourages flexible problem solving. It does not appear that the Government or senior Department officials have radically changed their approach to management since the crisis began. This is a concern. Things change quickly outside this House and the Government. If the Government benches are not sufficiently flexible to meet those needs, they are not fit for purpose.

It is also worth noting that, on publishing this Bill, the Minister claimed that three out of four vacancies in the ICT sector would be filled by graduates from Irish colleges by 2018. In effect, he is indefinitely conceding that 25% of the requisite workers will come from outside the State. Setting aside the Government's penchant for recycled announcements, the Minister's Action Plan for Jobs update is not adequately ambitious to get us to where we need to be. Austerity is slowing down the recovery. It is that simple.

Forfás identified the need to increase ICT skills supply to meet demand. The Minister claps himself on the back for completing a report confirming what Forfás has already told him, with a limited target of increasing ICT graduate supply by 14% over the next four years. He has offered no explanation as to why he has limited his targets or, indeed, the resource allocation necessary to address this shortfall.

A number of provisions in the Bill will improve the existing legislation. This is to be welcomed. Changing the name of the green card permit to the "critical skills employment permit" makes sense, as does providing for families where such permits are awarded. In addition, the legislation provides for the family members of third country researchers, as instructed by Europe. The sectors in question have extremely specialised needs and it makes sense to remove unnecessary obstacles.

Facilitating transfers between branches of a company has been identified as a need by foreign investors, particularly, as noted by the Minister, in the case of start-ups. It is also welcome that the Government has positively responded to the need to acknowledge migrant workers who have fallen out of the permit system for a number of reasons. I commend the efforts of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland in this regard.

Internships have become a contentious area of the employment market. Of course a Fine Gael Minister is going to advocate for work without pay. Many of the electorate voted for the Labour Party in 2011 to soften the hard, extreme edges of Fine Gael, yet Fine Gael and the Labour Party have pursued work-without-pay measures with equal zeal over the past three years. There is far too high an incidence of highly educated young people finding themselves on rolling internships, unable to get permanent positions. The Government is one of the worst offenders. Last year, more than 220 young people were taken on across various Departments, yet none was offered a full-time position. Instead, the Government took on other interns to fill those positions. No matter how the Government tries to spin it, this is displacement of workers and a mechanism by which the Government is attempting to deal with the negative impact of its recruitment moratorium.

Facilitating student internship programme permits is not in itself wrong. Indeed, such programmes are valuable to third level students specialising in certain highly skilled occupations. That said, we need to ensure that interns from Ireland and elsewhere are not being exploited.

Sinn Féin's youth affairs spokesperson, Senator Reilly, recently published an excellent policy document entitled "Youth Matters - Not for Export". I urge the Minister to familiarise himself with it. Languages are cited by FDI companies as an expertise for which they often need to recruit from outside Ireland. Senator Reilly has proposed that the Government establish a public sector internship programme with other EU states, encouraging young people to improve their language skills within the workplace.

As an aside, the document also calls for all labour activation schemes to be income-proofed - this is important - to ensure that the State is not facilitating the growth of at-work poverty levels. When we discuss internship programmes, we must acknowledge that somebody other than the employer is paying for a person who is doing unpaid work - for example, parents. Often, this can only be afforded by wealthier parents. Parents from lower income brackets are unable to fund their children working free for the State or anyone else.

This legislation will be welcomed by advocacy groups, particularly as it relates to employment permits in exceptional circumstances for carers who are medical professionals caring for people with severe medical conditions or when a person has developed a high level of dependence on a migrant worker.

Before concluding, I will speak briefly on a matter that is not addressed in this legislation, yet is relevant to the debate.

As the Minister is aware, there is increasing concern about the working environment and rights of au pairs in this country. Traditionally, au pairs were young people who took part in a cultural or language exchange programme for a limited period of time. However, the Minister is aware that, increasingly, au pairs are being recruited as carers of children, the elderly or people with disabilities, or for domestic work. While protected under existing employment legislation, most au pairs are not aware of the rights afforded them, and most employers are not aware of their responsibilities to them. Approximately 10,000 au pairs are employed in this State each year. That is a sizable group of very vulnerable workers who are increasingly exploited, paid below the minimum wage, and are not receiving basic entitlements. Demand for au pairs has been on the increase as working families are finding it impossible to pay for child care.

While the Code of Practice for Protecting Persons Employed in other People’s Homes was introduced and placed on a statutory footing in 2007, it is not being enforced and does not provide in full for the experience of au pairs. In addition, their work is extending beyond traditional child care into caring for people with disabilities and elderly people. In part, this is again because many families simply cannot afford the costs of institutional or professional privatised care.

We recognise that Government has a number of policy objectives to consider when considering a revision of the employment permit system. However, where anomalies arise in the labour market arising from Government policy, these irregularities cannot go unchallenged or unchecked. The Government is due to sign the International Labour Organization Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. That provision will enhance protections, and the National Employment Rights Authority will also amend its oversight and enforcement procedures.

Sinn Féin supports the call by the Migrant Rights Centre for an immediate and co-ordinated response by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the National Employment Rights Authority to ensure that the employment rights of au pair workers are upheld and enforced, with a particular emphasis on recruitment agencies and direct employers. The Minister must work with his Cabinet colleagues also to deal with the reality that families unable to afford child care or the care of elderly or disabled family members are turning to au pairs to fulfil that work.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Tá a lán rudaí maithe sa Bhille seo agus cabhróidh siad le daoine atá ag obair sa gheilleagar ag an bomaite seo. Tá súil agam go mbeidh an tAire oscailte maidir le leasuithe ar Chéim an Choiste, mar beidh Sinn Féin ag cur leasuithe chun cinn.

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