Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

As an employer who has employed permit holders, I would be delighted to see this provision included in the Bill. I am only too well aware of employers who have exploited this system and agents who seek permits under false pretences. Those permits are then sold on, thereby duping innocent people – if they can be called that – entering this country. There is a huge trade in permits. I became aware of an example today in my own business when I was approached by somebody with a false permit. The law needs to be draconian to bring home to employers that they cannot have someone on their premises who is not employed in the correct fashion.

It is anything but anti-business. It is pro-business in that it ensures that employers operate on a level playing field and cannot avoid looking after employees they bring into the country by, for example, not paying taxes on their behalf or failing to get proper tax clearance certificates for them. I am aware of cases of employees still paying emergency tax after eight months on the books.

A draconian law would have a similar effect to the penalty points system in transport and would lead to this whole area being tightened up. People pay heed to the law when it is severe. Having seen at first hand the abuses that can take place in what can best be described as the market in permits, I welcome the measure.