Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am quite happy to respond. The truth is that I do not see this provision as adding the signal to the employers that the Senator has put forward. The legal advice we have is that it offers the alternative. It allows employers have a new avenue of defence. Whereas if we have a very simple test of why the person did not apply for a permit, namely, whether they take reasonable steps to have a permit, the court could say yay or nay to that. If we introduce this new subject matter as to whether there was exploitative conditions, the clear advice we have got from our legal people is that it opens up a whole new front of engagement where an employer will defend that. It is not a clear-cut test anymore. We would be offering a new front to fight the case. That is essentially the reasoning behind the judgment that the Attorney General's office offers us on the way we frame this.