New work-permit application forms have been issued by the authorities to prevent exploitation of immigrant workers.
The documents clearly inform prospective foreign workers of their employment rights and require employers to sign a declaration that they will honour these rights.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment issued the new forms following reports that some immigrant workers were being paid less than their Irish counterparts or had been wrongfully charged agent fees to work in Ireland.
The Department's Labour Inspectorate is examining more than 100 cases of possible breaches of employment law involving foreign workers, including failure to pay prearranged wages, illegal deductions and non-payment of overtime or holiday pay.
Gardai have recently investigated several cases where Pakistani workers unwittingly paid up to £10,000 to agents involved in falsely obtaining work permits. There have been complaints by foreign workers that the conditions of employment they agreed to before they left their countries were not honoured when they arrived in Ireland.
The new application forms include a detailed declaration section in which employers must state that the holder of the one year work permit will enjoy all Irish employment rights.
They must accept they cannot charge an employee a fee for a work permit or for agreeing to seek employment for him or her. Details of the job offer must be given on the form. Recruitment agents must sign an undertaking that they will not charge an employee a fee for a work permit or for seeking employment for him or her.
The form also contains a section for a declaration from the employee that he or she understands their employment rights as outlined. This section includes a statement that work-permit holders will be paid the same as Irish employees doing similar work.
Meanwhile, a total of 17,695 work permits have been issued this year until yesterday, including 1,966 renewals. The total number of permits issued last year was 18,000. Latvians are the largest single nationality of work-permit holders this year, followed by Lithuanians, Poles and Filipinos.
Work permits are necessary for foreign workers from countries outside the European Economic Area, which comprises the 15 EU member-states as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.