Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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195. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if foreign agencies recruiting staff abroad to work here are obliged under the regulations to have a licence to do so. [40584/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Agency Act 1971 governs the sector operating in Ireland. Under the Act, an employment agency operating in Ireland must hold a licence to carry out its business. It is an offence under the Act for an employment agency to do so without a licence. An employment agency operating outside Ireland will be subject to regulation, if any, of the jurisdiction in which it is located.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), on behalf of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, deals with applications for employment agency licences. If an employment agency has a premises in the state, it must obtain a licence and, in order to obtain a licence, the premises must conform to the standards of accommodation prescribed by Regulations under the Employment Agency Act 1971 and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, Act 2005.

It is an offence for an employment agency to carry on business without an employment agency licence. Under section 10 (1) of the Employment Agency Act, 1971, as amended by section 19 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, a person guilty of an offence under the Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a Class C fine not exceeding €2,500 and in the case of a continuing offence to a further Class D fine not exceeding €1,000 a day.