Nineteen Moldovan workers, who were jailed after they arrived here last weekend expecting to find work in a meat factory, were freed by the High Court yesterday. All of the men have been offered alternative employment.
The men arrived on Sunday to work in Kildare Chilling Company, Kildare town. However, they were told at Dublin Airport there were no jobs with the company and they could not remain. They had valid visas and work permits for the Kildare company.
Because of the BSE situation and culling of cattle, meat processing arrangements had slowed down, the court heard. The Moldovans had claimed they were not informed of this before their arrival. Ruling on an inquiry into the legality of the men's detention yesterday, Mr Justice O'Sullivan said he was satisfied the detention was unlawful given that it was accepted that a clear and bone fide offer of employment was available to them. He directed they be released immediately.
The judge added that several other legal issues had been raised but he did not consider he should deal with these in the present inquiry. Judicial review proceedings in relation to the case will be heard later.
Ten of the men are being offered employment with Movex Packaging and Warehousing at Cookstown Industrial Estate, Tallaght, Co Dublin, while the other nine are being given work at the Queally Group Food Processors, Naas, Co Kildare.
Det Garda Denise McMahon, the immigration officer who refused the men entry, told the judge the men had arrived from Bucharest. She was aware information had been received from the Kildare Chilling Company that, because of the BSE crisis, there was no employment for them with that company.
She explained the situation to the men and told them there would be no problem returning to Ireland if they had a work permit for another company. They had no accommodation and because they had insufficient funds to support themselves, she was satisfied they should be refused entry under the 1935 Aliens Act.
She understood the men had been advised by an agent in Moldova before coming that work was no longer available at the Kildare company. The men were sent to Mountjoy Prison, which was a scheduled centre to detain persons under the Aliens Act.
Cross-examined by Mr Peter Finlay SC, for the men, Det Garda McMahon said there would have been no problem had the men had a valid work permit for another company. A visa would get a person as far as Ireland but it was up to the immigration authorities to allow the person to "land". Non-EU persons needed visas to land, except persons from the US.
Mr Conleth Bradley, for the State, said it was satisfied the regulations had been complied with and that the men were lawfully detained. Det Garda McMahon, with a Garda sergeant and interpreter, had spent two hours interviewing the men on their arrival and had dealt with them in a humane way.
The State was informed that all the men had been offered alternative work. If that was correct, then the men would be released immediately.
Mr Finlay said there had not been a proper inquiry by the immigration authorities when the men arrived. If a proper inquiry had been carried out, it would have been readily ascertained that other work was available for them.
It could not be the case that a person could apply to the Irish embassy in another country for a visa, be cleared to come to Ireland and then, that an immigration officer had the right to turn that person around and put them on the next flight.
Even if a person had no work permit, they should be able to stay in Ireland so long as they had a valid visa and obeyed the law, counsel said.