Give work permits to individuals, group says

IRELAND’S first national organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting immigrants’ rights wants the State to give work permits to individuals instead of employers in order to remove the risk of exploitation.

Founder and chairperson of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, said the new body, born out of her Social Innovations Ireland Initiative, would fill a serious gap in the provision of services to the immigrant community.

Currently, there is no other free legal aid available to immigrants.

Sr Stan, who is also the founder and life president of Focus Ireland, warned that Ireland was storing up problems for the future because our immigration policy was confusing, unfair and unjust.

“It is simply not OK to take people in when and how it suits us, ignore their rights and needs and then discard them when it doesn’t,” she declared.

Well over 150,000 foreign immigrants had come to Ireland to work and study since 1996 and they would keep coming, she said.

Sr Stan said the glaring need for the new office, officially opened by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday, was identified in a needs analysis carried out in Dublin last year.

The Taoiseach said the work permit issue raised by Sr Stan could be considered in the context of proposed legislation.

While there were good reasons for having the current system in place, it did need to be tightened up to ensure it was not abused by unscrupulous employers, he said.

Since the ICI opened in Dorset Street, Dublin, last November, people of 69 different nationalities and from all five continents have used its service.

Those who looked for help from the ICI also underlined the need for the State to issue long-term work permits to immigrants.

Ireland is one of the few EU countries that still has not introduced a long-term residence permit for individuals legally resident in the state for four or five years.

Sr Stan said the change should be made now in line with the upcoming EU directive.

ICI also wants family members of migrant workers to join them in Ireland. Sr Stan said many migrant workers came here not knowing if and when they would see their family again.

Sr Stan pointed out that the ICI received 150,000 in funding from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform last year and had been promised 270,000 this year.

“We have not yet received any of this year’s promised funding and are dependant on the charity of the Irish Sisters of Charity until we do,” she said.