Statements on the Rights of Migrants Workers - 13th April 2005

Rights of Migrant Workers: Statements.
13th April 2005


Mr. Norris: It is a privilege to listen to people such as my colleague, Senator Morrissey. This is what the Seanad is all about, where people with direct practical experience of a situation with political implications may lay this before the House. I hope that the Minister and his replacement today, the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, have taken notes on this. I was particularly impressed by the suggestion of a paper trail based on the mandatory documentation. I heard Senator Morrissey last night on "Tonight with Vincent Browne" where he was also very convincing. I hope the necessary action will be taken in this regard.
Mr. Leyden: He was a brave man to go out there.
Mr. Norris: He was, but he is able to bat on his own wicket comprehensively. I have raised these issues over a number of years. Even this year I recall raising the question of two Sri Lankan workers interviewed on RTE television, who were in tears because they had come here on foot of certain undertakings given by Irish employers. They wanted to send money home to their families, something with which Irish people can identify. It is ingrained in our culture that our people went abroad to work, in England and America particularly, and helped to keep Ireland afloat by sending money back to their families. The Sri Lankan pair were baulked in this regard and were not able to do this because of the way in which they were swindled and cheated. The image of two grown married men in tears on Butt Bridge was a reproach to this country.
Then there is the question of the Filipinos, which has being going on for a long time. Many of our nursing services are being run on Filipino labour and these workers are not as well treated as they should be, as regards reunification with their families, general working conditions etc. We may very well lose them and then the health service will be in even worse trouble than it is at the moment. In addition, conditions almost amounting to slavery have been exposed where Filipinos are used as housemaids, child attendants and so forth.
I raised the question a short time ago of a group of Polish workers brought to Donegal by an employer who let them down extremely badly. They were stuck there, not paid for the week they worked and told they had no jobs. Were it not for the wonderfully warm and human response of the woman who ran the guest house and cancelled her holiday to look after them, their situation would have been much worse. She went on the radio and secured employment for these people who otherwise would have been stranded, through media publicity. I was proud of her as a decent Irish woman, but I was ashamed of the employers.
[Mr. Norris]
While abroad recently, I listened to the BBC World Service. It did not make me feel proud when I heard the case of Ms Salvacion Orge, the Filipina hired to work as beautician on Irish Ferries and paid 75 cent an hour. When she had the temerity to do an interview with RTE television, she was sacked. How is that for freedom of speech? Are we proud of this? Thank God for the trade unions and her co-workers who stood up for her and helped her to get to court where she got a settlement of 30,000.
I am sorry the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, is no longer in the House. That does not mean I have any grudge against my former colleague in the House, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. Although I praised Deputy Martin when Minister for Health and Children and I know him to be a decent and caring man, this is not a good day for either him or his Department. They should be thoroughly ashamed. His speech was more waffle, blather and tripe about the economy. There was so much padding and filling, it meant sweet damn all.
The first action the Minister must take is to congratulate Deputy Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. But for him, we would not be debating this matter. Where was the Department when this scandal was going on? It was only ventilated when Deputy Joe Higgins entered the arena. The Minister made the big announcement of asking the Irish ambassador to the Netherlands to contact the bank involved in the case this morning. Again, he is trailing after Deputy Joe Higgins who has already gone to Amsterdam with some of the employees to demand their account details from the bank. That was real action. The House must record its congratulations to Deputy Joe Higgins for doing the State and Parliament a service. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment must also acknowledge his efforts.
An apology is due to the workers for the lack of care for their welfare and interests by State officials. It is clear the workers were the victims of a massive and scandalous fraud. Will the Minister explain how his Department could be unaware of their plight when Deputy Joe Higgins was aware of it? It is essential that we follow the advice given by Senator Morrissey to monitor these situations.
Several years ago when in Turkey with the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, we were besieged by massive conglomerate building corporations, including Gama, all anxious to get into Ireland. Now we know why. Gama won many contracts, including the Ballincollig bypass, where it underbid other competitors, including Irish ones, by 15 million and the Ennis bypass, where it underbid by 5 million. It is easy to see how it could do so when it did not pay regular wages. The Minister skated over this by saying one can only get certain agreed regulated wages. However, Gama was forced by to admit it underpaid its workers. Again, it was Deputy Joe Higgins who forced them into this admission.
Several weeks ago on radio, a public relations spokesperson for Gama called Deputy Joe Higgins a liar.
Mr. McCarthy: He was a solicitor.
Mr. Norris: I thank Senator McCarthy for the correction. This representative of the company had to withdraw his allegation.
Gama is a large company that specialises in large construction projects, particularly electricity generating stations and bypasses. It imports workers from its homebase in Turkey who, by and large, do not speak English. Their passports and work permits are controlled by the company. The company accommodates them in what amount to army barracks and concentration camps. It works them from cockcrow to nightfall in all weather conditions without breaks. It is shameful that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is unaware of these conditions. That Turkey tolerates these types of work practices calls into the question its fitness to join the European Union.
In addition to the exploitation of the workers by paying them less than the minimum wage, the company engages in the noxious practice of using High Court injunctions to suppress publication of reports into its activities. This suggests there is some matter of concern which it seeks to hide. It is clear it relates to the bank accounts in Amsterdam. Although I have not had access to the report, I understand these workers were brought to Ireland en masse. The company knew the majority did not speak English, yet shortly before landing in Dublin, forms in English were pushed under the workers' noses which they were told they must sign. This was the legal authorisation for the company to open and operate bank accounts on behalf of the individual workers, an extraordinary and unheard of practice.
This debacle also calls into the question the operations and standards of the Finansbank, which I hope will be indicated to the Dutch authorities. Under pressure, the spokesperson admitted all the procedures were highly unusual or irregular as I call them. He prefaced this by saying people should be careful of what they sign. Caveat emptor; let the buyer beware. This is a mean-minded, legalistic get-out from scurrilous practices by the bank and the company. The spokesperson confirmed no statements were ever sent to the workers. The accounts were opened in a face-to-face manner. They were unaware that the moneys were then transferred into Ryder Investments, a company whose owners, controlling interests or beneficiaries are unknown.
The sums involved are between 20 million and 40 million. This must be cleared up by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The operation of Gama Construction in Ireland must come under question. I am aware of concerns in some housing estates in Dublin city as to the quality of work by Gama. While I support the Department's efforts, I hope it has listened to Senator Morrissey's practical suggestions. This is still a black day for Ireland. Deputy Joe Higgins must be congratulated while the Department should hang its head in shame. We must apologise to the workers for allowing them to be systematically defrauded by their employers.

Statements on the Death of His Holiness John Paul 11- 12th April 2005

Expressions of Sympathy on the Death of His Holiness, John Paul 11
12th April 2005
Mr. Norris: I will not dissent from the terms of this motion, although I regret that it was changed and that the message will be sent not to the Camerlengo but to Cardinal Ratzinger, about whom I must say, in the words of an English parliamentarian, I feel there is something of the night. Nevertheless, it is important that we mark this event. I also understand that the motions were placed simultaneously on the Order Papers of both Houses without any consultation - at least in the case of the other House - with the Whips.
Be that as it may. There is no question or doubt that this event is very remarkable. I was abroad and listened to the service. When I heard the solemn bell tolling to mark the funeral of the Pope, I thought of a great piece by the Anglican divine, John Donne, "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions".
XVII. NUNC LENTO SONITU DICUNT, MORIERIS.
Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die.
Meditation.
PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. [...]
Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Those were my thoughts when I heard of the death of John Paul II, who was undoubtedly a very remarkable man and a charismatic figure. I recall the day of his election, when I was in the city of Coventry writing one of three papers which led, ironically, to the foundation of the International Gay Association, which is still vibrant today. I thought how wonderful it was, but I have been saddened since at the lack of fulfilment of what I saw as the promise of greater liberation, freedom, understanding and humanity.
[Mr. NORRIS]
He was a positive, creative and courageous man on some issues. He was opposed to the death penalty and the war in Iraq, for example. I also remember his poignant appeal to the IRA, when he was on his knees in Drogheda. He was largely unsuccessful on such issues.
I feel much less happy about the record of Pope John Paul II in respect of some areas in which he thought he was successful. I regret that he committed himself to authority, rather than honest inquiry, and to the suppression of honest dissent. When I raise such matters I am told that the church is a club, rather than a democracy, and that one has to accept the club's rules when one enters it. Perhaps that is true but, like many people throughout the world, I have not entered the club in question. It is wrong that we are all expected to bend the knee on issues such as those I have mentioned without discussion, honest inquiry or debate, because of the Vatican's political perspective. It is incorrect to try to enforce such rules. There are numerous instances - I refer for example to the issue of AIDS and the recognition of relationships outside marriage - of parliamentarians receiving clear political instructions from Rome on how they should vote. Such interventions are extraordinary.
The papacy of the recently deceased Pope was characterised by an extraordinary facility with the media. A lack of proportion within the Vatican was sometimes exposed by media-driven events. The fact that the Pope, who was a great man, created more saints than any of his predecessors suggests to me a lack of proportion, particularly when I consider the exclusion so far from the list of saints of the late Pope John XXIII, who was one of the most remarkable spiritual leaders of the 20th century. It worries me that he has not been made a saint-----
Mr. Norris: -----even though many other people, some of whom are obscure and of questionable background, are now standing in the serried ranks of the saints. Pope John XXIII was universally loved and revered for his humility, which was not one of the qualities of the recently deceased Pope John Paul II.
The intellectual powerhouse of Catholicism, the Jesuit Order, was marginalised and sidelined under the papacy of Pope John Paul II while Opus Dei was promoted and elevated. That is a problem because the church "belongs to all", as John Donne said at the start of the passage from which I quoted. I certainly feel that the church belongs to me - in my ancestry I have a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church during the penal period. It is my church - in my genes there are those who fought for the church when it was not popular. Perhaps the Jesuit Order was marginalised because of its honesty, which was evident during the recent period of the Pope's dying and death. I heard a Jesuit saying it was a pity to distort the emphasis on Easter by focussing on the deathbed of the Pope, rather than on the passion and agony of Jesus Christ on the cross. That was a courageous comment to make.
Many people have been implicated in cases of clerical sexual abuse, an issue that has troubled this country. It is a pity that Cardinal Law was given such a prominent role in Rome in recent days. The lead is often given from the top in matters of this nature. The Pope sent a letter of sympathy to Cardinal Groer of Vienna when the cardinal had to leave his position following sustained allegations of sexual interference with young priests. It is a pity that the letter did not mention the victims of abuse. I am not sure why that was the case but it happened and I regret it.
The Pope's decision to forbid the priesthood from becoming involved in politics affected some priests who had wonderfully and courageously defended the poor in Latin America. He had no such inhibitions in his native land, Poland, where he endorsed Solidarnosc and Lech Walesa. He ruthlessly sought to stamp out liberation theology in Latin America. The list of the victims of Cardinal Ratzinger's office is a roll-call of the most profound spiritual thinkers of the Catholic Church in the 20th century. I refer to people like Leonardo Boff, Hans Küng, Charles Curran, Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen and Professor Dr. John McNeill. Today's edition of The Irish Times has reported that Hans Küng has suggested that Cardinal Ratzinger is attempting to manipulate the papal election in his own favour.
I could give a list of other people who have been silenced, such as Oscar Romero, who was initially conservative but had to learn from experience. He faced life with honesty and committed himself to the poor of his own country, but he was hung out by the Vatican not to dry, but to die.

[Mr. Norris]
When his assassins came, he died silently. The people of Latin America, however, have made him a saint and they do not require the Vatican stamp of approval. When Oscar Romero appealed for protection from the Vatican, it reminded me of Imre Nagy appealing from Budapest over a crackling radio wave for help from those whom he had expected to help, but they denied him. I am on the side of Archbishop Romero.
I did not see humility, I saw hubris. I remember some striking visual images. When Sr. Theresa Kane in Chicago, at the opening of his papacy, courageously made a strong plea for the recognition of the position of women in the church, the Pope did not reply, he just put on an angry expression and pushed his hands down as if to say that she must sit down and not speak in his presence, a Pauline view of things.
Another image was that of him shaking his fist in the face of Miguel Descoto, the Foreign Minister who was also a Jesuit, in Nicaragua. Former President Bush and the Pope succeeded in destabilising that noble experiment. When Miguel Descoto was Foreign Minister, Nicaragua had the highest rate of literacy in South America and it now has the lowest. Its wealth has gone back to the rancheros and those others who hoarded it before.
I regret that this papacy appeared to be characterised by una duce, una voce, enforced by Cardinal Ratzinger. There were wonderful titles to so many papal encyclicals. Pope Paul VI issued Gaudium et Spes - Joy and Hope - and that is what young people need. Pope John Paul II issued Veritatis Splendor - The Splendour of Truth - but the truth was often denied. I recently attended a remarkable performance of Brecht's Galileo in which this great dramatist showed both sides and how troubling and difficult it was for the establishment and ordinary people to accommodate themselves in the complex world that was emerging where man and the earth were not the centre of the universe. It was challenging and shocking but there were people in the Vatican at that stage who knew he was right but they turned their faces against the truth. That is a great pity.
Young people need inspiration, love and the rights of women to be addressed. There are so many problems to be addressed: global warming, population control, AIDS and human sexuality. Everyone says they felt loved by this Pope but I did not. Any Pope who presided over a Vatican where the language of hatred was spewed forth and words such as "virus", "objectively evil" and "intrinsically immoral" were used was not using the language of love, not to me. On AIDS, the absolute refusal to accept international advice that condoms are essential in the fight against HIV condemns beautiful young, heterosexual men and women in Africa to a horrible death.
I could say much more but I will conclude by saying that I wish the soul of this Pope something that he did not give people like me during the time we shared on this planet - peace. I very much hope that the Holy Spirit, that moves in a mysterious way, will move through the appointment of so many deeply conservative people within the church and find, as it did in the case of that wonderful man Pope John XXIII, a truly Christ-like figure who will lead the church into this challenging century and will find for complex and difficult questions not the simplistic, dogmatic and biblically based answers that we were given under this papacy but, instead, answers that are humane, clear and practical.