Paul Murphy criticised an employment permit bill as designed to exploit migrant workers and to undermine workers' rights, arguing it serves employers' interests rather than workers. He said the Government ignored minimal recommendations from the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and failed to strengthen basic protections for migrant and all workers.
Key criticisms
Paul Murphy described the bill as written in the interests of employers and as a measure to increase flexibility for employers while offering absolutely no attempt to protect workers' rights. He called the legislation a scandal and said it would undermine the rights of all workers by enabling exploitation in sectors such as hospitality and fruit-picking.
Committee recommendations ignored
He detailed several minimal recommendations from the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment that were rejected, including equalising rights for general employment permit holders with critical skills permit holders, allowing earlier access to the labour market after two years instead of five, improving rights to family reunion and the right of family members to work, and the Committee's recommendation against introducing a new seasonal employment permit.
Enforcement and capacity concerns
Paul Murphy warned that enforcement capacity is far too weak, noting over 30,000 work permits issued so far this year while the WRC has only around 50 inspectors across its wider remit. He argued the Department has refused to provide sufficient resources to the WRC, creating a regulatory system designed to fail and leave workers vulnerable to severe exploitation.
Lobbying and recruitment agencies
He raised concerns about lobbying by former Fine Gael TD turned lobbyist Tom Neville and said the bill's provisions enabling recruitment agencies to effectively become sponsors risk creating another parasitic layer of control over migrant workers. He asked the minister to explain meetings and any correspondence between officials and that lobbyist during the bill's drafting and noted questions about the cooling-off period for former public officials.
Unions, migrant groups and wider criticism
Paul Murphy cited the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland as saying the legislation addresses employer needs only and leaves workers at risk. He said even members of the Committee from the government side supported the minimal recommendations, underscoring how weak the bill's protections are.
EU immigration policy stance and consequences
He also stated opposition to EU immigration policy, describing it as unjust and racist, and blamed the establishment for creating a "fortress Europe" that he said has been linked to the deaths of 25,000 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea so far. He framed the bill within broader concerns about migration policy and human cost.
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Thanks a lot Chair. This bill is a bill for the exploitation of migrant workers, that's what it is. It's a bill therefore to undermine the rights of all workers. It's a bill written in the interests of the employers, in particular sectors. Evidence of that is contained in the fact that the very minimal recommendations that were made by the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which I'm a part of, which were signed up to even by Fine Gael members of that committee, that those very minimal recommendations have been ignored. Minimal attempts to strengthen basic workers' rights have been ignored yet again by this right-wing Government. Some of those recommendations included the proposal that workers on general employment permits would have the same rights as workers on critical skills permits, that they have the right to gain access to the labour market after two years instead of five, that they would be given better rights to family reunion and family members would have the right to work. The Committee also recommended against introducing the proposed new seasonal employment permit. This is very obviously intended as a carte blanche for employers in industries like hospitality and fruit-picking to treat migrant workers like so much disposable cutlery, tools to be discarded without a second thought at the end of the season. It isn't just People Before Profit which is saying that the Minister has ignored workers' rights in this bill. It is the Irish Congress of Trade Unions which says that the legislation addresses the needs of employers only, not workers, and has no proposals to enhance workers' rights. It is the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland representing many migrant workers in this country. They say that the Committee's recommendations have been entirely ignored, leaving workers at risk of severe exploitation. To continue the quote, this bill as it currently stands is focused solely on increasing flexibility for employers, with absolutely no attempt to protect workers' rights. That is the scandal. They are absolutely correct. 100% about flexibility for employers, absolutely nothing in terms of defending the rights of migrant workers and the rights of all workers in this country. Particularly cynical is the Department's ongoing refusal to provide anything near the level of resources required for the WRC to actually enforce workers' rights. Over 30,000 work permits have been issued so far this year, and yet the WRC only has around 50 inspectors across its entire remit, which is much broader than just dealing with these permits and rights connected with them. Minister, it is a joke on the same level as the three regulators allocated to oversee Anglo-Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland combined before the financial crash, or the current risible under-resourcing of the Data Protection Commissioner. They are all systems of state regulation designed to fail, so that big business can do whatever it likes, and who cares about the consequences for workers or for society as a whole. I wonder if the Minister at least has the decency to acknowledge that workers' rights have been disregarded in the drafting of this bill, and that he and his Department and this Government have entirely caved to the demands of employers and the employers' lobbyists on this. I note several returns in the Lobbying Register in relation to the employment permit system from former Fine Gael TD turned lobbyist Tom Neville. It seems he has been energetically lobbying his former colleagues in Fine Gael on this, including yourself and other Fine Gael Minister, Minister McEntee, on behalf of a recruitment agency of non-EEA workers, Workforce Ireland. This latest version of the bill that we have before us includes provisions enabling recruitment agencies to effectively become sponsors of permits, rather than the actual employer. It reinforces another parasitic layer of exploitation and control of vulnerable workers. You cannot see from the Lobbying Register what Mr Neville's demands were, what his requests were in relation to the bill, but perhaps the Minister, when he closes, can fill us in on what he and his officials spoke with Tom Neville about between two and five separate occasions between September and December last year, when the general scheme of this bill was being drafted. I would also ask whether there is any correspondence between the bill's favourable provisions for recruitment agencies and the lobbying by former Fine Gael colleague Tom Neville on behalf of one such agency. According to the Lobbying Register, Neville registered his lobbying firm Neville International in September 2020, clearly has international ambitions, just seven months after losing his seat in the February 2020 general election. That is a lot less than the one-year cooling-off period for relevant designated public officials. Dr Dummles Cale, former Deputy Neville, is not here to defend himself, so please refrain from naming him. That is a lot less than the one-year cooling-off period for relevant designated public officials under the Lobbying Act. Of course, he is not covered by that, because TDs are not covered, again reflecting how weak our legislation is relating to the rotating door of people moving from politics to lobbying. To return to the Committee's recommendations, I mean the fact that even your own party and government colleagues in the Committee endorse them reflects the fact that these were very minimal asks from the Committee, not even enough, but even then the Government was not able to accept them. People before profit demands much, much more. We are opposed to the EU's unjust and racist immigration policies, which you and your Government and your European Parliament colleagues have consistently supported. Together, and together with the establishments across Europe, you are responsible for creating and reinforcing a fortress Europe that has caused the deaths of 25,000 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea so far, many of them young children. Their only crime to seek a better life for themselves and their families, as generations of Irish people have also been forced to do. We want nothing less than equal and improved rights for all workers, regardless of nationality or immigration status. Equal pay and conditions for equal work are really entirely basic demands. It is an indictment of the capitalist system that we are still fighting for this in 2022 and that it is so generally accepted that migrant workers can be treated as less than and discriminated against purely on the basis of their nationality and their country of origin. We are opposed to the whole system of employment permits. Tying workers to an employer for any period of time is a form of bonded labour that leaves them vulnerable to super-exploitation. We will therefore be opposing this bill as it reinforces the state-sanctioned system of worker exploitation, which is what the system of employment permits really is. In doing nothing to meaningfully improve the rights of migrant workers, in reality the government undermines the rights of the whole working class. That is the point, that this is a battle for the entire working class. If we improve the rights of migrant workers, if we get rid of the super-exploitation which is allowed, that benefits all workers. Whenever the horrific exploitation of the Turkish workers at Gama was exposed, was defeated by an organised struggle, by a strike, led by socialists and the workers themselves, that was a blow for all workers. Similarly, the whole workers' movement needs to stand united against these permits, against this super-exploitation of migrant workers and for workers' rights for all. It is called the government's account for the public charter. Now, it is a win-win-win family, and it is a sit-in. For them, the American people who were committed to this civil rights, staff of agri-haken, once they believed that it was the conflict of the government.
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