Minister Calleary responds to concerns of employment permit holders

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Responding to the concerns of the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland, Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary, TD said that “Exploitation in the labour market is unacceptable and I urge all who find themselves in this position, including employees on employment permits or persons who know of such a situation, to contact the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) who will investigate these matters

The Minister noted that the full suite of Employment Rights legislation applies across the board to all people working in Ireland whether they are Irish citizens or not.

Recognising that reporting of breaches can sometimes present difficulties for employees who hold permits linked to a particular employer, the Minister reminded the MRCI that NERA will also act on complaints made to them anonymously.

Reflecting changes to the labour market situation in Ireland in 2009, changes were made to the employment permits regime.

Defending the Government’s policy Minister Calleary said ‘the current arrangements for moving jobs is sufficiently flexible and he pointed to the importance of retaining the current arrangements which operate also to protect employees which allows the system to trace employers who have permit holders.

Were employees allowed to move jobs freely within a sector, it becomes more difficult to ensure that an employee's rights are respected.

The Minister was equally aware that a properly controlled employment permit system requires that permits be issued to a specific employee for a specific job with a specific employer. To do otherwise would not only risk abuse of the employment permit system but would make it much more difficult to ensure that employers observed the employment rights of employees.

Although employment permits are employer and location specific, the Minister said “The Department currently makes best efforts to facilitate those who encounter difficult situations and who wish to change employers, with new employment permits.

The Minister pointed to the fact that last year, almost 1,500 new employment permits were issued in respect of employees changing to new employers.

‘These permit applications were issued without regard to the normal requirements of advertising the position in daily newspapers and with FAS,” Minister Calleary concluded.

ENDS/LA336