THE DEPARTMENT of Enterprise, Trade and Employment came in for some criticism in the District Court in Athlone yesterday after it failed in an action against a Moate chipper for employing a teenage breadwinner.
Fes Express Ltd, trading as Supermacs in the Midland town, had been summonsed to appear before Judge John Neilan on 20 sample breaches of the Protection of Young People in Employment Act 1996, after inspectors for the department discovered the then 16-year-old had worked for longer than four hours and after 10pm on a number of dates in October 2007.
However, when it was revealed the girl was one of the two main breadwinners for her family, had actively sought the extra work and was still employed at the fast food franchise, Judge Neilan sought to "arrive at a degree of common sense" and dismissed all charges.
"Is the Minister aware of the nightmare visited on families up and down the country?" asked the judge. "I accept the legislation is there but why should her employer be punished if the child wants to provide for her family?
"My own children went out into the same marketplace. I would have absolutely no objections for them to go into the marketplace of life rather than hanging round streets. It gives them an ethos that's sadly lacking in this country. I have no intentions of punishing her and I commend her employer. What does this say to young people? Go to England because the law says you can't work here?"
Earlier, the court had heard from defence solicitor Michele Mellotte that her clients took the matter "very seriously" but that the girl had pressured the management for more work and that she and her mother were the only ones bringing in a wage to the family home at that time.
Ms Mellotte suggested this was just a "technical breach" and the judge agreed.