Permits for migrant workers

Madam, - While disagreeing with elements of your Editorial on migrant workers (April 13th), we share your overall concern that…

Madam, - While disagreeing with elements of your Editorial on migrant workers (April 13th), we share your overall concern that migrant workers should not be abused but be treated fairly.

The morality of the matter speaks for itself, but for strategic reasons it is also important for immigration control. If unscrupulous employers can get away with exploiting migrant workers they will drag them in by the hair of their heads in the hundreds of thousands, legal and illegal.

In this regard, the pathetic strength of our labour inspectorate is a major concern. It must police illegal employment and fair conditions of employment for the whole country and is shamefully under-resourced.

In January this year, the government of the Netherlands announced that, in its fight against illegal labour, it was increasing its labour inspectorate by 80 to a total of 180. Holland has four times our population. Proportionately, that would give us a labour inspectorate of 45. It stands, I believe, at 17.

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Your broader attack on the work permit system is another matter. While allowing for the possibility of adjustments, the system per se is in line with other EU countries, as noted by the International Organisation for Migration in a comparative study of April 2002.

"In European countries, work permit systems are the main means of entry to employment for foreign workers from non-EEA countries. . .The work permit system in Europe is essentially employer-led. To date most of the new initiatives remain modest, and generally relate to the highly skilled."

The usual suspects have been pushing the notion that "we don't have a proper immigration system" when, in reality, we are closely aligned to the practice of other EU countries. But then, their aim is for us to be a pocket-sized US. - Yours, etc.,

AINE NÍ CHONAILL,

PRO,

Immigration

Control Platform,

Dublin 2.