The Employment Permits Bill, details of which have been announced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Ms Harney, will - for the first time - make it an offence for employers to engage immigrants who lack work permits.
It will also tighten up the 67-year-old rules under which work permits are issued to persons from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and provide Government departments with greater oversight and control of the system. Members of Cabinet agreed to the proposals last week, but the Bill will now have to be processed by parliamentary draftsmen and it is unlikely to become law until the end of this year, at the earliest.
The number of work permits issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has increased rapidly in recent years as job shortages developed in specific sectors of the economy. In the first two months of this year, some 6,000 permits were issued, the same number as for 1999. Apart from nurses and paramedics, the bulk of the permits went to the catering, horticultural and agricultural services.
Ms Harney explained that those non-EEA nationals with a work permit enjoy the same rights under Irish labour law as Irish citizens. The employment of persons who lacked permits put them in danger of exploitation while offering some employers an unfair competitive advantage over those who complied with the law. Such illegal employment could call into question the very liberal employment permit facilities now in operation, she said.
The slow-down in the economy and rising unemployment led the Tánaiste to urge employers, some months ago, to fill available vacancies with Irish and EU citizens, where that was possible. The proposed Bill will allow for greater transparency in the operation of the employment permit system while cracking down on the employment of illegal immigrants. Penalties for breaches of the law will be decided following advice from the Attorney General. Given the exploitation of non-EEA workers in the past, a decision to make it an offence for an employer, or a recruitment agent, to deduct from the wages of an employee any costs associated with their taking up work in this State, is to be welcomed.