OLIVER DONOHOE,
Madam, - I am at a loss to understand how the Labour spokeswoman Ms Joanna Tuffy can conclude that the amendment to the Immigration Bill by the Minister for Justice, Mr Michael McDowell, is "very anti-business" (Seanad Report, January 30th).
The amendment will go some way towards correcting the current legal imbalance between employers and workers in relation to the employment of non-nationals, which is loaded in favour of employers. It is anti-bad employers, but not anti-business.
The amendment provides that employers who commit an offence could face a fine of up to €250,000 or 10 years imprisonment, or both, while the maximum fine for a worker will be €3,000 or one year's imprisonment.
The illegal employment of immigrants is one of the factors which encourage human trafficking and all the exploitation, abuse and extortion that goes with this trade in vulnerable people. Without the collaboration of greedy employers there would be no demand.
The Minister is quite right when he says that up to now, employers could take on illegal workers with "absolute immunity". He is also right to point out that the more severe penalties for employers reflects the reality that employers have more scope than workers to commit wrongs of a considerably greater magnitude.
When I first read your Seanad Report, I thought your reporter had got the names mixed up and attributed the Labour speech to the Minister and Mr McDowell's to Ms Tuffy. After all, isn't it supported to be Labour's job to look after the interests of workers while the PDs do the bidding of big business? This debate seemed to prompt a major reversal of these roles. - Yours, etc.,
OLIVER DONOHOE,
Clonard Road,
Kimmage,
Dublin 12.