Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the chance to speak to this amendment because I missed the opportunity to oppose sections 10 and 11 on Committee Stage. As has been mentioned, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has gone into significant detail here. The committee discussed this with experts in the area and with the Department and produced a report which relayed its concerns about the introduction of seasonal employment permits. Sinn Féin believes there is not sufficient evidence to support the introduction of this type of permit. We are further concerned there will be an increased risk of exploitation of the workers who would be employed under these permits. They will not be in the State long enough to learn or become acquainted with their rights. However, they will be here long enough to be exploited. That is a grave concern we have. The introduction of these permits will create a class of worker who will be the most vulnerable within the labour market. The creation of seasonal work permits to address supposed difficulties in certain sectors, regardless of whether that is the intention, could potentially facilitate the circumvention of improving pay and conditions. The reason trade unions, migrant rights organisations and others are concerned about and oppose these permits is that workers will be here for exactly long enough to be exploited but not long enough to be organised and then they will be gone.

In Europe, we have seen evidence that such permits facilitate this exploitation. We know most employers do not engage in awful practices such as exploiting their workers, and I want the record to reflect that, but there are some who do. This matter should not be downplayed or diminished. The fact is that the 2023 WRC annual report shows that 47% of all WRC investigations found breaches of employment law. That is astonishing. If there are employers who are ready to break employment law for Irish workers and workers domiciled in the State, they will waste no time exploiting workers who will only be here for a short period. I welcome this amendment. I would have opposed sections 10 and 11 if I had the opportunity on Committee Stage, but regrettably I missed that chance. We cannot support the Bill because of these permits. That is our position.