Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak to this Bill on Second Stage. We all agree it is a very technical and lengthy piece of legislation. I believe there is also agreement on the need to modernise the work permit system on which so many of our services depend, be it agrifood, IT, hygiene or caring. The Covid-19 pandemic, which still ongoing, exposed how dependent we are on so many of these workers and how they rose to the challenges and demands made of them in extraordinary difficult and, indeed, risky circumstances. While some people could ride out the infection in airy homes and gardens, time and again, they were the people who repeatedly went out to the front line.

While we accept the need and desire to modernise the permit system, we have ongoing concerns that it could be done in a way that makes no attempt to protect workers’ rights. I am particularly concerned that while significant efforts are made to look after flexibility for employers, there is not the reciprocal concern for the protection and welfare of workers. I believe the Minister of State is missing a bigger opportunity here to really look after workers' rights and well-being in the same way it appears he is concerned about the employers.

People who are far from home are not just cogs in the wheels of industry or a means of getting to the bottom line of profit. They are spending important years of their lives here with us in Ireland. They arrive as workers but often end up as neighbours living their lives in their communities. Equally, as the Minister of State will be aware, evidence was presented to the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment that under the permit system, the rights, pay and conditions of some workers were not being upheld. They also face insecurity and uncertainty on their future prospects and the position of their families. As Irish people who went to work wherever people would have us, through centuries and generations, often in very poor conditions, we have a particular duty to get it right for the workers who come here to live and work on our shores. At the same time, however, the State should not be letting itself off the hook in failing to train our own people to the requisite standards of those who come here to work. There is serious work to be done that regard. While we must recognise that workers' permits and people going abroad to work can have a great equalising effect, that is not the case if those workers are going to be exploited, as Deputy O'Reilly already outlined. I saw this first-hand during the early years of Covid-19 when County Kildare went into lockdown because of bad practices in workplaces around meat factories.

It is regrettable that the Bill has chosen to ignore so much of the excellent advice that came from the committee, particularly the path of advice that would give all permit holders and workers strong and equal opportunity and protection. If taken and implemented, it would also protect workers' families, for example. The committee recommends that the holders of general employment permits would be given better rights with regard to family reunion. Those family members could also then be welcomed into the labour market. This is something the Minister of State and his counterparts in the Department of Justice could look at in terms of making Ireland a compassionate, respectful and modern working destination where rights are upheld and opportunities offered. I am glad the Minister of State is open to amendments. I hope he will look on them favourably in order that we can improve the Bill.

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