It was being left to community groups and to "decent people making a stand" to police the working conditions of immigrant workers and to speak out against their exploitation, a trade union official claimed yesterday.
Mike Jennings, Siptu regional secretary for the midlands and the southeast, said the State was allowing "the bad employers" to get away with exploiting migrant workers.
There were just 21 inspectors on the staff of the labour inspectorate of the Department of Enterprise for 1.9 million workers. At least double that number was required, he said.
He also said employers organisations were not doing enough for the good employers who were being put out of business by unscrupulous competitors.
He was speaking at the launch of a report on migrant workers' concerns and their rights, in Killarney, Co Kerry.