Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Am I to accept that the 150 Moldovans, 450 Ukrainians or 122 Bulgarians who received work permits since 1 January are all highly skilled? They are not. If those people are brought here and tied to their employers' work permits, they will remain vulnerable to the threat of exploitation. This workforce is complex in terms of language, culture and political history. In addition to changing the work permit system, a proactive labour inspectorate is required to enforce the law rather than say that investigations can only be carried out after a complaint is received. How will a complaint be received from people with fewer than two words of English? Three weeks ago, a tiler who was supplied by a legitimate contractor to work in my home could not inform my wife of his role because of his limited English. How will he complain if he is badly treated? The only solution is to ensure that the rights of these people are protected. Otherwise we will begin a process which will result in the exploitation of Irish workers generally and not only immigrant workers.