John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

Picking up on the last point made by Senator Ryan, it would be useful if the House were to debate the issue of opening negotiations between the EU and Turkey. Yesterday the Joint Committee on European Affairs adopted a report which recommended that the negotiations would open and the decision on this is being made by the EU on 17 December.

Senators McDowell and Ormonde and I recently visited Turkey to consider matters there. We were all very impressed by what we saw and the advances being made at official level to bring the law in Turkey into line with European norms and to improve human rights. We all agree there is a long way to go and that negotiations will be long and difficult. However, it is appropriate that the Joint Committee on European Affairs found that negotiations should begin and its report might form the basis of a debate in the House in the new year, which I recommend to the Leader.

I agree with Senator O'Toole's remarks in regard to the report on the treatment of migrant workers which was presented to the Joint Committee on European Affairs yesterday. The case studies in the report make very depressing reading. It is like returning to rural Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s when some workers were almost in bondage. Some of the workers who came to Ireland more recently paid significant sums to come. When they arrived, they thought they would get reasonable wages but were deducted for everything and asked to be involved in practices in which they never expected to be involved. It is a matter that needs to be discussed. Allied to that, we should debate an issue which has arisen on several occasions, that of whether work permits should be held by the employer or the employee. Perhaps we could deal with this after the Christmas break.