Higgins calls for introduction of new work permit laws

THE Government must bring in new work permit laws to guarantee immigrant workers the minimum wage and a concrete means to verify that pay, Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins insisted at the weekend.

The latest case of the Filipino hairdresser hired for €1 an hour by Irish Ferries highlights even further the scale of the gross exploitation that is going on, Mr Higgins said.

The Socialist Party leader told their annual conference in Navan at the weekend that the State's failure to address the underpayment of immigrant workers was "immoral and unjust".

And the Government must now bring in laws that will restructure the immigrant work visa system, Mr Higgins said.

"Greater powers must be given to trade unions and to the labour inspectors to allow them to verify that immigrant workers are not being underpaid, as has been proven to be a widespread abuse of the system," the Socialist Party leader added.

Mr Higgins has spearheaded the campaign to secure proper pay for immigrant workers by highlighting the abuse of Turkish construction workers employed by one company, Gama.

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin has ordered an investigation into these allegations.

"The big problem is that immigrant workers are afraid to complain because they are tied to their employers who hold their visas Minister Martin must change this and bring in a proper verification of the rates of pay these workers are getting," Mr Higgins said.

Referring to the deportation of the Nigerian student Olunkunle Elukanlo, Mr Higgins called for an amnesty that would permit young people in the asylum process who had integrated into Irish society to remain permanently in the State.

But Justice Minister Michael McDowell who revoked Olunkunle's deportation order as a once-off because of the specific circumstances has insisted there will be no U-turn on the general deportation policy.

Mr McDowell said yesterday that if he did not strictly enforce Ireland's immigration laws he would be playing straight into the hands of those who use the race issue to polarise Irish politics.

He said there was a "small vocal group" in Irish society who seem to ignore the commonsense view of the majority that the law must be enforced.

"But they have got it wrong if they think I am going to do a U-turn on this country's immigration policy," he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Higgins also called for the construction of a new left wing movement to challenge the present FF/PD government and the "rainbow partners" of Fine Gael and Labour.

This "rainbow" coalition is a populist, right-wing group masquerading as an alternative to another consensus-seeking right wing group, Mr Higgins said.