"Blocks to Employment"

Abhaile aris the Republican ex prisoners group based in Letterkenny ran a very successful seminar on Tuesday last in the Clanree Hotel entitled “ Blocks To Employment”.

Gill Kennedy the Education and Training Officer with the Immigrant Council of Ireland and by Michael Culbert from Coiste Na n-I archimí the republican ex prisoner group based in Belfast addressed the seminar.

Gillian Kennedy gave a very comprehensive account of the problems that foreign nationals experience whilst looking for work and outlined in great detail the pitfalls that they encounter. The main issues for migrant workers she said were Low Pay, long hours, poor working conditions the work permit system and the lack of recognition of qualifications that they may hold. She went on to outline the many Social welfare restrictions citing the Habitual Residence condition introduced in 2004 after accession she said many migrants cannot access many of the payments unless they have two years residency in the common travel area. Gillian outlined some of the I.C.I. Recommendations to help fight against these restrictions. They were Polices based on ‘permanence’2) Enforcement of existing labour laws, 3) Social inclusion measures induction programmes and through education.

Our next speaker was Michael Culbert who outlined the difficulties that republican ex prisoners have been experiencing since there release from prison. He pointed out that 99% of those imprisoned but for the political conflict in Ireland would never have seen the inside of a jail and all of them certainly did not see themselves as having a criminal record and therefore could not see why they were discriminated against when it came to seeking employment. He went on to say that whilst they had made great progress with the British Government on this issue they had made none with the Irish Government, but was an issue they would continue to take up with the Irish Government. Michael told of two ongoing cases in the North in relation to two exprisoners being sacked from their employ because it was detected that they had served a prison sentence both cases are ongoing and he expected that both cases would be won by the ex prisoners.

After the two speakers we had a Question & Answer session with those present and a selected panel of guests made up of Sean O Reilly SIPTU, Brian Mc Cormack Letterkenny Chamber, Suilemain Adeyoola Foreign National, Una O Connor Fás the panel was chaired by Cllr Padraig Mac Lochlainn. Sean O Reilly gave a good run down on current employment regulations and made some very good observations outlining the current work that SIPTU are currently involved pledging support to anyone who finds themselves in difficulties with their employers. Mr Adeyoola gave a very personal account of the difficulties he himself experienced whilst looking for work here in Donegal. Una O Connor ended the meeting with outlining the services that Fás provide for migrant workers.

Gerry Mc Monagle thanked all who attended and especially those an the panel and had a special word of thanks for the two speakers who travelled from Dublin and Belfast to take part in the proceedings.