Hostel guilty of hiring director with no valid permit to work in Ireland

A Dublin city centre hostel has been spared a criminal conviction for employing a non-national as a director when he did not have a valid permit to work in Ireland.

Parkgate Lounge Ltd, with a registered address at Talbot Street, trading as The Abbot Lodge, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to breaching the Employment Permit Act and the Organisation of Working Time Act.

Judge Anthony Halpin applied the Probation of Offenders Act after noting the firm had complied with an order made two months earlier to donate €1,000 to the Little Flowers Penny Dinners charity and to contribute €300 toward prosecution costs.

The court heard a Workplace Relations Commission inspector interviewed employees there in November 2017.

They learned the man had been working there from August to October last year.

It was not known if he was getting breaks or holidays.

The court heard he previously had permission and was told by the Department of Justice he could stay in the country until he got an employment permit.

The defence submitted the company, which had 13 employees, made him a director to help him out with his permit application.

He was on €38,000 a year and records were kept so it was not a case that he was exploited, the defence submitted in pleas for leniency.

His status has been regularised now.

The court heard it was the firm’s first offence. The charge can result in a fine of up to €4,000 plus costs.