Ireland should introduce "savage penalties" to deter companies from underpaying foreign workers who are desperately needed and vital to the future of the economy, according to the chief executive of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland.
John Dunne said laws needed to be beefed up to protect foreign nationals from being abused by greedy companies aiming to cash in on their vulnerable status.
"Ireland desperately needs foreign workers and it is treason to abuse them," he told the annual conference in Cork of the Chambers of Commerce yesterday. "We should say unequivocally that there is no hiding place for companies that break the law."
While penalties should be significantly increased, the Government also had to gets its own house in order, he added.
"We have been told that the biggest problem most international workers have in Ireland is dealing with State institutions. That isn't acceptable."
Mr Dunne told the conference the concept of "rip-off Ireland" was something that the Government liked to lecture companies about on a regular basis. However, he argued, the majority of rip-offs originated from the public sector.
Mr Dunne said companies around the country were finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with stealthy increases in Government charges including commercial rates, water charges, waste charges and development levies.
Meanwhile, he added, the Chambers of Commerce claimed that the growth of the economy was highly dependent on the continued success of indigenous companies.
Mr Dunne said the Government needed to act to secure jobs and insisted there was a limit to what businesses could achieve on their own.
"The Government has to play its part. If that doesn't happen, foreign companies will bail out and Irish companies will go to the wall. Year on year our businesses are expected to cut costs. But one of the biggest cost factors for business is direct bills from the Exchequer. Every business in Ireland is facing a threat. One in four could be gone in 10 years time."
Speakers at the one-day event included John W Mitchell, a driving force in Pfizer, former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh and Rosheen McGuckian, chief executive of GE Money, a specialist financial services organisation.