February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Robinson said the government?s policy of awarding permits to employers rather than employees left non-national workers at the mercy of their employers. At the same conference, former U.S. Rep. Bruce Morrison also said immigrant workers groups like the Filipino nurses were leaving Ireland in great numbers because they couldn?t get permission for their spouses to live there. Morrison suggested a green card-type system in Ireland would represent a better approach to immigration.
Responding to the recent criticism, Harney said the work permit system had to be based on demand. Permits could be issued only when and where there were job vacancies. She rejected the idea that a green card-type system would be preferable to the work-permit system.
?All of that was examined a number of years ago and I felt, on balance, it was not the way forward for Ireland,? she said.
Harney also insisted that the government was committed to protecting immigrant workers.
?What we have are basically short-term needs in different sectors,? Harney said. ?It varies from time to time and it has to be responsive to the needs of the economy.?
Harney also insisted that the government was committed to protecting immigrant workers.
?We have ensured that anyone who?s discriminated against in Ireland is given an alternative working permit,? she said. ?If they?re being treated unfairly by their currently employer, that employer will not be given new permits for other staff.?
In relation to the issue of Filipino nurses, Harney said she was considering a change in policy to prevent these nurses from leaving Ireland for better lives elsewhere.
?The nurses and other high-skilled workers come through an authorization process,? she said. ?It?s different from the permit process and I think it?s only fair and reasonable that we should give serious consideration to allow their families join them.?
Harney has said she expects workers from new European Union member states will meet most of the country?s labor needs. She said that they will be treated like any other European Union nationals, they would not need permits and they would have minimum wage guarantees.
Most of the existing 15 European Union members fear an influx of cheap labor when 10 more countries join the union on May 1. Germany and Austria have pushed for work bans of up to seven years for all newcomers ?- and many other union members have followed suit. But Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, will fully open its labor markets beginning May 1, together with the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.
Harney said they would not put up any administrative obstacles.
?We believe that under our labor legislation, every worker should be treated equally, there should be no discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race or whatever and that will continue to be the case,? she told reporters.
Harney, who is also Ireland?s minister for employment, said the foreign workers would be entitled to a minimum wage of at the least