Workers held as ‘slaves’ in Irish homes

WORKERS are being held in slave conditions in Irish homes and businesses because of a lack of legislation to either protect them or prosecute their enslavers.

The Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRCI) revealed it regularly finds cases of people working as forced labour, but is often powerless to help them.

The group is calling for the introduction of laws similar to Britain’s new Slavery and Servitude Act, which enabled police there to move on long-held suspicions about the enslavement of men at a Traveller camp in Bedfordshire.

Four men were charged yesterday following the discovery of 24 men kept in squalid conditions in ramshackle caravans, horseboxes and even dog kennels while being forced to work as free manual labour for the Traveller gang.

The four were charged with slavery offences relating to four people found at the Greenacres Travellers’ site.

The men were named as Tommy Connors, aged 30, Patrick Connors, aged 19, James (Big Jim) Connors, aged 34, and James (Jimmy) Connors, aged 23, all of Greenacres caravan site, in Great Billington, Leighton Buzzard. The four men will appear at Luton Magistrates’ Court today.

Detectives credited legislation introduced in Britain last year with giving them the powers to move against the gang, but the operation has highlighted the lack of similar powers here.

The MRCI has dealt with over 150 cases of forced labour in the past five years. However, communications officer Delphine O’Keeffe said: “We are only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.”

Cases are most likely to be found among migrants used as domestics and cleaners, restaurant and catering workers and in horticulture, but because there is no criminal offence of slavery or forced labour in Irish law proving abuses is difficult.

“We are using employment law, the Labour Relations Commission and the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but cases have to be very clear cut before we can use those mechanisms when, in fact, there are many very subtle ways of enslaving someone.”

Ms O’Keeffe said the withholding of passports and other legal documents, threats of deportation and intimidation of workers’ family members back home were all common methods of forcing people to stay with abusive employers.

Lack of accommodation and supports meant sometimes workers who sought help from the MRCI chose to stay enslaved because they saw no alternative.

Anti-Slavery International has also urged Ireland to provide laws enabling the Garda to act on the issue.

“Ireland very much has a problem of modern day slavery,” said spokeswoman Klara Skrivankova. “I believe Ireland would greatly benefit from giving the police these powers.”

The Department of Justice said the question of whether forced labour should be criminalised as a standalone offence was being considered and that the Garda had been asked for its analysis of the situation based on cases that had come to its attention.