The criminalising of the employment without work permits of various categories of immigrants underlined that the Government would not tolerate a form of abuse of a vulnerable people, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, told the House.
The Minister moved an amendment to the Immigration Bill to provide that employers who committed an offence under it could face, on indictment, a fine of up to €250,000 or 10 years' imprisonment, or both. The amendment was passed.
Mr McDowell said it had long been a source of concern that there was a great legal imbalance between the employer and the employee when it came to the law on employment of non-nationals.
Up to now, employers could take on such staff with "absolute immunity". The new section in the Bill redressed that imbalance, and it sent a clear message to employers that exploitative activity of this nature would not be tolerated.
Under the measure, the offence for the employee was a minor one and was subject to a maximum fine of €3,000 or 12 months' imprisonment. The more severe penalties for employers reflected the Government's view that there was more scope for them to commit wrongs of a considerably greater magnitude than there was for employees to do so.
The Labour spokeswoman, Ms Joanna Tuffy, said that the penalties for employers were "over the top". She believed this approach was very anti-business. There should be an appropriate system for economic immigration into this country. Until this was done, the Minister should not become heavy-handed with employers.
Ms Tuffy also said that we needed to allow asylum-seekers to work after they been here for a reasonable period of time.