Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Cummins for sharing his time with me as I am anxious to speak on this issue. Times have changed from little over a decade ago and the previous century and a half when many young Irish people relied on other countries for employment. The Irish diaspora travelled to the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and many other countries and were well taken care of. Our rights were undermined at times, sometimes by our own people. Anybody who went to the United Kingdom would say that the employers and the government there were very fair to Irish workers and introduced holidays etc. Unfortunately, it was sometimes the Irish employer or colleagues from their community who abused and undermined the rights of the Irish workers.

Now many years on, the ball is at our foot. We cannot allow a situation where a Filipina could work on an Irish ferry for a paltry €1 an hour. We cannot allow Turkish workers come into our country and work for €2 to €3 an hour, as is alleged. We must ensure this does not happen and not just give lip service to this important issue. I was embarrassed that a woman would be paid €1 an hour and that this woman was paid off by a highly visible company with €25,000. This is not acceptable. The rigours of the law must be enforced to ensure that any company that undermines workers rights or that underpays workers should face the full rigours of the law.

Over 20 years ago we took great pride in the "buy Irish" campaign and in goods that were guaranteed Irish. As a small shopkeeper employer who finds it difficult to operate profitably I welcomed the introduction of the minimum wage. However, it is difficult to compete with large supermarkets and companies that do not pay the minimum wage as the minimum wage is not enforced by regulation. Years ago people would support Irish products and businesses, but I urge the people to boycott those businesses that do not pay the minimum wage. How far will Irish consumers go in this regard? Unfortunately, consumers are driven by price, not by service. They do not care what happens behind closed doors as long as they get value. The market must be sorted out, but we must sort ourselves out also.

I am delighted the inspectorate has been increased by 50%. This has come a little late, but is welcome. We must enforce our policy and ensure that migrant workers are welcomed into the country and that they receive the same respect and rights as the Irish worker. I welcome this debate in which we all have a role to play.