Official Ireland still tends to regard immigrants as a problem rather than an asset.
Any change to meet their needs is grudgingly made and their hard work and dynamism not widely accepted. The Government belatedly moved to rectify a situation in which the spouses of certain foreign workers were prevented from seeking employment in this State but there is more that must be done, especially with regard to temporary work visas.
Intensive lobbying by the Irish Nurses' Organisation, health employers and trade unions helped to bring about a change in the regulations for the spouses of foreign workers. As a result Ireland will be a more attractive location for highly skilled workers and their spouses who come from outside the European Union.
This newspaper advocated such reform in the past and the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, is to be complimented for introducing it. Fast-track visas are available to those workers in short supply, such as nurses, IT professionals, engineers, planners, architects and persons on transfer within the multinational sector. But because their spouses have no automatic right to seek employment in this State, many choose to go elsewhere. In spite of that, an estimated 10,000 non-nationals are currently employed under the scheme. About 5,000 of them are nurses, mainly from the Philippines. They work in the healthcare system, where there is a chronic shortage of trained nurses, and many of them are married. Recently, some felt they had no choice but to move to Britain and Australia, where the employment regulations are not as strict. Their loss placed further pressure on our over-stretched health services.
The Tánaiste has dealt with a problem affecting highly skilled, foreign professional workers in short supply. Now she must move to modify the temporary work visa system that applies to other non-EU employees. This scheme has been likened to "bonded servitude" by Ms Mary Robinson, because foreign workers can lose their entitlement to work if they attempt to change employers or improve their prospects. This draconian regulation stultifies economic development and allows unscrupulous employers to exploit workers.
The trade union movement, the churches and various immigrant organisations have requested that such workers be granted the right to change employers without being penalised for so doing. US congressman, Mr Bruce Morrison, who helped to provide 50,000 Irish nationals with "Morrison visas" in the 1980s, believes it is an abusive way to think about immigrants. The Government should change the regulation.