Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to contribute to this debate. We have a huge issue. We are known as Ireland of the thousand welcomes or céad míle fáilte and we just welcomed visitors from the Gambian Parliament here a few minutes ago but we have a huge problem with delays in employment permits. I do not understand the reasons. We never get the reasons. I know of one person who has worked here, has a partner here and wants to come here to work, and it is going on for nearly four years. That partner is a brilliant, hard-working, dedicated man and he has come to the conclusion that he will try to reverse and go the other way. He is a skilled HGV driver who works 19 or 20 hours per day in the milk season and will be a huge loss to his employer, community and, above all, his elderly mother, family and friends. It is a huge change for him to move so far from his native shore.

I have come from a committee where we discussed the hospitality industry. I condemn out of hand any practices whereby workers who come here work extortionate hours and do not get proper rates of pay. We must not have any truck with that. We have to have checks and balances but the hospitality industry is on its knees. They tell us we are at full employment. I do not believe we are but those are the statistics regurgitated out to us every day. It is difficult to know.

That industry has been lobbying the Minister of State and us. I heard criticism earlier of a former colleague of the Minister of State who has become a lobbyist. There should be some distance from Members of this House as well as the public service, including county councillors and senior officials. When they leave, there should be time before they take up any lobbying position.

Everyone knows about the hospitality industry but we must also deal with the extortionate rates that industry is charging in Dublin because it is damaging the brand of Ireland of a thousand welcomes and the work of Fáilte Ireland and all the good people in tourism. My good colleague, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, will not be happy with me but there are one or two, I believe, in Kerry as well that have huge rates. It is giving a bad name to the whole brand. In New York, they had a special rate for hotels compared to the rest of the country. I believe we will have to do the same here.

Getting back to the issue at hand, farm and forestry contractors of Ireland are crying out for labour, as are the building industry and many industries, including horticulture and the poultry and pig sectors. It is difficult and arduous for permits to be got. The vast majority of employers are good, caring and responsible and they respect the workers. While there is always one or two, that happens in every walk of life, unfortunately. We must do something to make it easier.

I am not saying we should have no checks and balances and let anybody and everybody in here. I have a concern about the influx of people. We saw the saga in Killarney and I am glad that is reversed for the moment. I heard one of the Ukrainians this morning, a lady, who was delighted she was not moving that distance but she did not know where she was sleeping tonight. That will resolve itself, I hope. Apparently it is because one of the companies in Mayo will not take international refugees while they will take Ukrainians. Are we picking and choosing?

I was contacted during the week by a gentleman who said he had 3,500 places for Ukrainian people fleeing the war and was in a logjam. I was contacted by one of the people in the chain of supplies he has. I can give the Minister of State details. It was an-chara liom in Tipperary town, a gentleman I will not name. He has had his premises kitted out at a fair amount of expense, is ready and waiting and has not heard a dickeybird, níl aon pingin amháin, and has not had a penny. He entered into this in good faith to deal with the situation, as the Government had asked, and did up his premises, but he has not seen anybody come and has no idea. I am alarmed to think a company, or a man, a gentleman or whatever- I did not speak to him; it was my office - has 3,500 places in the middle of a housing crisis for so many people. I do not know what is going on. I am bewildered as to how this is happening but if that man is a co-ordinator or whatever we call him and can pick up those kind of places, how come the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Minister of State, who is in that section as well, cannot get their hands on these places? There is something wrong. Is the money so lucrative for the other? There are question marks. We need to deal with it but we need to be sensitive and to understand contractors are in a bad way for staff. Many contractors have been forced out of business this year - I know a half dozen in south Tipperary - because of the price of fuel, the cost of insurance and the lack of support.

Yet for some reason the Minister has refused to meet the farm contractors of Ireland. I appeal to the Minister of State to be more understanding and sensitive.

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