Eastern European workers could be working in Ireland as certified electricians, plumbers and in other specialised trades within a matter of months, after completing only 17 weeks of training, according to the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union.
The TEEU said it would resist any attempt to allow Polish workers, who have been certified as craftspeople but who have not completed an apprenticeship or other recognised training, to work in Ireland.
Speaking at the TEEU biennial conference in Dundalk at the weekend, general secretary Owen Wills said he had learned that an EU-funded project had been established to bring untrained workers to certified craft level after just 17 weeks' training in their home country. While the workers would not be permitted to work in most European countries, they could work in Britain and Ireland because of a lack of regulation in the construction industry.
Craft workers in Ireland are required to undergo a four-year apprenticeship to be certified as plumbers, builders or electricians. Allowing untrained or partially trained tradespeople to work in Ireland with EU sanction would compromise that educational process, Mr Wills said.
"You can't properly train someone in 17 weeks. This country has put a lot of resources into apprenticeships and we are recognised as having one of the best apprenticeship systems in the world. This scheme makes a nonsense of that system and we will not allow anyone to undermine that system."
Mr Wills said he had established that the training course, which is being run in southern Poland, is not a conversion course for people who are already qualified and working in trades in Poland. The new workers were "starting from scratch", he said.
The union welcomed workers into the country, but those who were not properly qualified were open to abuse by employers. There was also a serious health and safety issue because unscrupulous builders could use them to carry out specialised work on homes which they were not fit to do. "This abuse could be putting people's lives in danger," he said. "The very least the Government must do is make production of a National Craft Certificate in the relevant trade mandatory on employers before they recruit anyone."
Mr Wills also criticised the Labour Inspectorate, set up to investigate exploitation.
The new partnership agreement, Towards 2016, has sanctioned the appointment of 90 new labour inspectors. However, Mr Wills said they were unlikely to make any difference to the level of exploitation if they were not actively pursuing employers. "So far the inspectorate has proven itself to be impotent, incompetent, or both, in resolving cases in which we have been involved."
