Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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79. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she is satisfied that current legislation is appropriate to adequately protect migrant workers from exploitation in seasonal employment within agricultural based industry here; and if further steps can be taken to enhance those protections. [38787/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a comprehensive body of employment legislation, in respect of which the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is mandated to secure compliance. Ireland’s employment rights legislation protects all employees, including migrant workers, who are legally employed on an a contract of service basis.

Where an individual believes they are being deprived of employment rights applicable to employees they may refer a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) where the matter can be dealt with by way of mediation or adjudication leading to a decision that is enforceable through the District Court. WRC inspectors can also be asked to investigate certain breaches. Complaints can be made on a single online complaint form available at the WRC’s website www.workplacerelations.ie.

On 7th December 2017, I published the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017. The Bill delivers on the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. This is a very important piece of legislation which will improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and seasonal contracts, including those working in the agricultural sector.

It provides for five key issues which will benefit all employees, particularly those in less secure employment arrangements:

- Ensuring that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and, in particular, their core terms at an early stage of their employment.

- Strengthening the provisions around minimum payments to low-paid, vulnerable employees who may be called in to work for a period but not provided with that work.

- Prohibiting zero hours contracts in most circumstances.

- Ensuring that workers on low hour contracts, who consistently work more hours each week than provided for in their contracts of employment, are entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the reality of the hours they have worked over an extended period.

- Strengthening the anti-penalisation provisions for employees who try to invoke a right under this Bill.

The Bill completed Report and Final Stage in the Dáil on 12th July 2018. However, I am concerned that the Bill as amended at Report Stage in the Dáil includes provisions which have the potential to significantly delay the progress of the Bill. This is because one amendment in particular, which could have far reaching implications for a broad range of stakeholders, needs to be subject to a thorough scrutiny and consultation.