The Labour Inspectorate in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is examining 108 cases for possible employment law breaches involving foreign workers.
The inspectors are also investigating breaches by employment agencies recruiting foreign workers, with 10 such agencies being examined with a view to possible prosecution.
Of the 108 cases of possible employment law breaches, 33 involve foreign workers in the hotel and catering sector, 24 in the agriculture sector, 16 in nursing, nine in retail and 26 in various sectors.
Investigations into employment law violations include: employers not paying workers prearranged wage rates; workers being paid below the minimum wage and being subject to excessive working hours; illegal deductions; non-payment of overtime or holiday pay.
Those being exploited are legal workers with work permits or working visas. who have been allowed into the State to meet the labour shortage.
Over 25,000 non-EU workers have been brought into the State since January last through the work permit system.
Often workers do not know their legal rights and are afraid they will be deported if they complain. Language barriers also prevent complaints being made. SIPTU said a group of north Africans working in the midlands were afraid to join the union for fear that their work permits would be withdrawn.
With an under-resourced Department consisting of 14 labour inspectors many of the violations are going unchecked, according to the SIPTU regional secretary for the midlands and the south-east, Mr Mike Jennings.
The system was open to abuse, as work permits were issued to employers, and if employees were unhappy with conditions they could not leave and seek employment elsewhere.
Mr Don Brennock, who runs a recruitment agency for Filipino workers, said he has seen the problems people run into when they reached the State. These include employees having their passports kept by recruitment agencies and work permits being issued for a specific type of job, but on arrival in the State employees are being put into another type of job. Others are being maltreated and put in dirty living conditions.
Mr Brennock also said there were problems with recruiters in the State who have partner agencies in the Philippines. "We would find it difficult to believe that some recruitment agencies here are receiving no financial gain from the excessive fees being charged to workers coming from the Philippines."
A review of the Employment Agency Act 1971 is currently under way. The Minister of State, Mr Tom Kitt, is to meet the Philippines ambassador in London to examine employment agency charges for workers coming to Ireland. A new work permit will come into effect from July 1st which will require an employee's signature before they enter the State. The work permit form will include a booklet with information on Irish employment rights, which has been translated into eight languages.