The State's largest trade union Siptu has claimed it has come across cases where workers have been "effectively trafficked in order to service black economy activities" in Ireland.
As the Taoiseach and Irish ministers prepared to engage with the US authorities over undocumented Irish people living there, Siptu said the Government should show the same concern for undocumented migrants working in Ireland as it does for those undocumented Irish.
Rhonda Donaghey, Siptu
Rhonda Donaghey of the Union's Domestic Workers Support Group said that rather than making deportation the first response to the problem of undocumented migrant workers, the Government should introduce a "regularisation process".
This would give workers in this situation "an opportunity to make a case as to why they should be allowed to stay".
"In our experience the most common reason for migrant workers failing to have the necessary documentation is employer exploitation," Ms Donaghey said.
"Some employers have tried to use the work permit as leverage in order to dictate pay terms and conditions of employment while others have been found to encourage migrant workers to operate in the black economy so that the employers can avoid their responsibilities under safety and other protective legislation."
Ms Donaghey said that while Siptu had succeeded in some high-profile cases in securing regularisation for workers who have been "conned" by employers in this country or by employment agencies in their own countries into working here without proper documentation, "these have been the exception rather than the rule".
"The success of an appeal to remain should not depend on how much media exposure you can achieve for your plight but instead should be based a proper system of evaluation which can be availed of by every worker in this situation so that the particular circumstances of each case can be judged on their merits," she said.
"So when Government representatives make the case for a process to enable undocumented aliens to regularise their situation in the United States this week, they should act on their own advice when they get home by establishing a similar process in Ireland."