Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

The visit of that delegation brought home to me the fact that it is not that long since many thousands of our people had to travel abroad to be migrant workers because of high unemployment here, limited career prospects and effective underemployment. With our recent personal experience, one would imagine we would be cognisant of the situation faced by a migrant worker in a foreign country, which is exacerbated when the language spoken that country is different from one's own language.

The new situation presents a major challenge, which is urgent and must be responded to. As Senator Ryan said, it requires a proactive approach by the Government to create a culture of protecting workers rather than permitting workers. A substantial number of migrant workers work in the services sector and in some cases are low paid. Some of these people would be very skilled in their own country. I recently met an experienced hotel manager who was working as a waitress. She did not mind that. However, she would have liked to be able to move up the career ladder but her work permit did not allow her to do so.

We need to be cognisant of the fact that a number of migrant workers are working in the low paid sector. The term "non-national worker" is a very broad one because it covers a number of nationalities. For instance, it covers many people from the new EU member states. It covers people from non-EU states in eastern Europe and the western side of Russia. It includes workers from India, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania and a number from Africa who possess a whole range of skills and experiences. It creates a whole new challenge for us to respond to this phenomenon. Our response as a nation and as a Legislature will determine how this whole phenomenon will pan out, particularly as a social phenomenon in the future.

I was interested in The Sunday Tribune poll last weekend which contained a number of confusing statistics. The fact that all non-nationals were heaped together probably created some distortion. For instance, some people would have quite a reaction to asylum seekers but they would have a very different reaction to migrant workers. We need to separate the two issues. The motion deals with migrant workers, therefore, I do not want to stray into the area of asylum seekers. From the point of view of testing public opinion, it would be more useful to be more specific in asking the question. We must accept that the phenomenon of an increasing number of foreign workers is here to stay, which is welcome. I gather from reading The Sunday Tribune poll that most people welcome it. We are now a multicultural society, which presents many challenges to our education system and our community and to which we must respond.

We need to address a number of issues, one of which I recently encountered in my clinic. The wife and children of a doctor from Pakistan, who has lived in this country for a number of years and made a significant contribution to the Irish health system and a local hospital, recently came to this country. When they applied for children's allowance, they were told that the habitual residence rule went against them. This was resolved, but if we had not made the intervention, the doctor in question would have accepted the fact that his wife was initially refused children's allowance. The case was won on appeal. There is another more recent example. A Sri Lankan man, who is working in the restaurant sector, plans to marry in August. He comes from an area which was badly affected by the tsunami, so clearly his work in Ireland is very important to his family. He is going back to Sri Lanka in August to get married, but he is concerned that his wife may not be able to come to Ireland legally because he is here on a work permit.

When we welcome workers to contribute to our economic success, we must remember that they have families. As this has been an issue for Irish people in America, why is it different for a Sri Lankan worker in Ireland? Our demands for our workers in America should also apply to migrant workers in Ireland. If we begin from that point, we will move forward in a useful and constructive fashion. We are now in a very different position from what was the case in the past. We have a lot of coping to do and investment to make to ensure our migrant workers are made welcome, not just by words but by our actions.

The motion indicates that the Government is not providing adequately for immigrant workers. It refers specifically to the numbers of industrial inspectors. We appeal to the Minister to adopt a protective system, which protects all workers and, in particular, recognises that migrant workers have particular issues and problems that must be met as soon as possible after they arrive in this country.