Madam, - Recently the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced the introduction of a "green card" for migrant workers in Ireland.
The Minister's reported comments are very welcome as he has promised new legislation and regulations that will allow migrant workers to remain permanently in the State, with automatic rights for family members to come to Ireland. However, on reading the text of the proposed Employment Permits Bill 2005, much of the Minister's predictions are not outlined in its actual content. Mr Martin has responded to this by indicating that the measures will be addressed in further legislation and/or regulations and that this will happen in due course. Whilst we welcome an indication that this may happen, we have concerns that the actual Bill being debated in the Dáil does not address these very issues.
We have huge concern also that the fast track route to permanency for migrant workers on "green cards" which the Minister has discussed will not be part of the actual Bill going through the Dáil. When you read the content of the future Bill, it is clear that the "green card" system being proposed bears no resemblance to the true green card system as commonly understood by Irish people - particularly anyone familiar with the US system.
In the United States, green cards confer rights and entitlements upon the holder commensurate with those of the long-stay migrant. They both confer and recognise the principle of permanence. The text of the Bill being debated at the moment provides "higher skilled" workers with permission to work for a minimum of two years (and possibly longer at the discretion of the Minister), effectively placing the current working visa/authorisation schemes on a statutory footing. The Bill itself does not introduce permission to work for five years and automatic rights to family reunification.
The result of this is that again we are treating migrant workers as economic units, eager for their contribution to our economy but singularly failing to accept that they may wish to settle permanently here.
Also, despite the Minister's statements about improved family reunification rights for higher-skilled migrant workers, the actual Bill does not contain any provisions regarding the family reunification rights of "green card" holders. It is not clear under what procedures family members will be allowed to join the migrants here, or for how long, and whether or not they will have the right to work when they arrive.
Nor is it clear if holders of the new "green cards" will be allowed to have wider family members simply visit them in Ireland for short periods. All of these issues will affect how attractive Ireland is as a country of immigration to highly mobile, high-skilled workers and their families.
The Bill addresses the situation whereby work permits are held by employers instead of employees to a degree. It proposes that employment permits will be issued to and held by the worker, with a copy provided to the employer.
However, while this is certainly a step in the right direction, the changes proposed in the Bill do not go far enough because while the employee may be issued with the work permit, (s)he still cannot apply for the permit in his/her own right, as the employer must still apply for it on their behalf.
Only workers who qualify for the two-year employment permit ("green card") will be allowed to apply for their own permit and this does not represent a change from the current system.
The ICI is very concerned that this still does not provide the worker with ownership of their labour and the result is that concerns about worker exploitation remain. - Yours, etc,
DENISE CHARLTON, Chief Executive, Immigrant Council of Ireland, Andrew St, Dublin 2.