Minister ‘concerned’about au pair rights

Up to 20,000 au pairs working in Irish family homes are at risk of “exploitation” because their placements are failing to be properly regulated.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she is concerned that young foreign students are being forced to take on extra responsibilities far above what they initially agreed.

During the leaders’ questions debate, Fianna Fáil children’s spokeswoman Anne Rabbitte said that despite the “great experience” an au pair placement can provide, thousands of young people coming to this country “are open to exploitation”.

Pointing to the fact there is “no regulation and no legal definition” of au pair work in Ireland, she said the State needs to act in order to properly protect young people coming to Ireland and the families which take them into their homes.

Responding to the concerns, Ms Fitzgerald said there is a “history of informal childcare in this country which is informal and unregulated” and that this is the main reason for the legal blind spot.

However, accepting the situation leaves au pairs at risk of “exploitation”, she said the Government is examining what actions can be taken to address the existing problems.

“Clearly, there is great potential for exploitation. You have cited examples where families have asked the au pair to be responsible for far more work than what has been initially intended.”

The au pair exploitation concerns come after a number of recent cases highlighted the potential risk posed by the unregulated nature of the current system.

The Migrant Rights Council of Ireland recently found that four out of every five au pairs in Ireland have no written contract of what work they must perform and three out of every five earning less than €120 a week.