Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Finucane, the Acting Leader of the Opposition, spoke on care for the elderly and drew some comparisons. He also raised the issue of Aer Lingus and suggested there should be a decision before Christmas. He welcomed the appointment of a person, not from this House, to carry out public scrutiny of a particular matter.

Senator O'Toole asked for a debate on the recently published report on the treatment of immigrant workers, particularly those in domestic employment. I agree with the Senator. I launched that report yesterday evening at 6.30 p.m. at SIPTU headquarters. I received a copy of the report two days ago and have not been so angry for a long time. Its contents reveal wicked practices. Bonded labour is a mild term for what is happening. People pay €1,000 to a recruitment agency to come into domestic employment. There is nothing wrong with domestic employment. We all do it. We clean floors in kitchens, wipe babies' bottoms, wash curtains and everything else all the time. However, these women are brought in with no firm areas of employment, hours or wages laid down. Some of them were there yesterday. I commend the marvellous work the migrant centres are doing. They in turn commended the debate in this House on the amendment to the equality Act this year. For the first time, migrant workers in domestic employment have the right to go to the Equality Authority to have a claim investigated. I agree with Senator O'Toole that it would be a good idea for a joint committee to investigate what could be done. We talk about what happened in Boston, New York and Chicago in the 1890s and 1900s where the women of Ireland went and became nannies and nursemaids. While the men dug railways, roads, viaducts and drains, the women reared the citizens of the United States, and we complain that they were not paid proper wages. The same is happening in our midst. There is no point in people claiming that, because they do not employ such people, the issue is not their concern. It is society's business.