Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 19 Nov 2002

Vol. 557 No. 4

Written Answers. - Work Permits.

Martin Ferris

Ceist:

141 Mr. Ferris asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps her Department proposes to take to ensure that employees working here on permits granted by her Department are given the same protections as other workers, especially in view of a recent case which highlighted the abuse of foreign workers who are effectively tied to one particular employer while on a permit. [22391/02]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

The labour inspectorate of my Department is responsible for monitoring the employment conditions of the various categories of all workers, including immigrant workers. In this regard, the inspectorate pursue allegations of workers being subjected to excessive working hours, illegal deductions from pay, non-payment of compensation for Sunday working or of holiday, public holiday pay, etc. In the event that evidence of non-compliance with employment rights legislation is found the inspectorate will seek redress for the individuals who have been mistreated and, if appropriate, a prosecution will be initiated. The inspectorate operates objectively, fairly, impartially and without any differentiation with respect to nationality.

It is important to note that our employment rights legislation, which establishes the statutory rights applicable to workers whether part-time or full-time, high or low skill, is applicable to all people working in Ireland. In other words, Irish employment rights legislation applies to immigrant workers in exactly the same manner as it does to native Irish workers. For the avoidance of doubt, statutory effect to this grounding principle was established in section 20(2) of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act, 2001.

I am aware of statements regarding the mistreatment of certain non-nationals placed in employment here on foot of work permit applications and I totally condemn such abuses of the workers concerned. The small number of employers who engage in these practices have been put on notice that they will not succeed in ignoring their statutory obligations to any employee. Moreover, this minority of employers have to be aware of the effect their actions have on Ireland's international image and the potential negative impact their behaviour has on our capacity to attract investment and necessary skills from abroad. In this regard however, the fact that 40% of work permits granted to date in 2002 are renewals is indicative of a growing level of stability and satisfaction in employer-employee relationships in this area and evidence that it is a limited number of employers that fall into the "undesirable" category.

While a work permit is issued to a specific employer and there is an expectation that the particular employee should take up and remain in the job for which they were recruited and entered the State, it is recognised that these arrangements do not always work. My Department has been able to take a very flexible and pragmatic attitude and has been prepared to issue a new work permit to a second or subsequent employer, when an otherwise valid application is submitted, where the arrangements did not work out.

Martin Ferris

Ceist:

142 Mr. Ferris asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps she proposes to ensure that workers on work permits are given the same rights to redundancy payments as other employees. [22392/02]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

It is important to note that our employment rights legislation, which establishes the statutory rights applicable to workers whether part-time or full-time, high or low skill, is applicable to all people working in Ireland. The legislation makes no distinction whatsoever between the rights of foreign workers and any other workers and as such all workers in Ireland without exception are entitled to the same statutory employment rights and protections. In other words, Irish employment rights legislation applies to immigrant workers in exactly the same manner as it does to native Irish workers.

With regard to statutory redundancy, an employee must be between the ages of 16 and 66 years and have at least two years' service in the employment to be eligible for redundancy. The statutory lump sum is calculated at one half week's pay for each year of service under the age of 41 years, a full week's pay for each year of service over the age of 41 years plus one extra week's pay at the gross rate of pay up to a ceiling of €507.90 per week.