Employment permits act 2006

Enactment Date23 June 2006
Act Number16


Number 16 of 2006


EMPLOYMENT PERMITS ACT 2006


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1. Interpretation.

2. Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2003.

3. Further amendment of Act of 2003.

4. Application for employment permit.

5. Foreign national is grantee of permit, general provisions as respects applications, etc.

6. Application (other than by a foreign national) for permit — information to be provided.

7. Application by foreign national — information to be provided.

8. Grant of employment permit by Minister.

9. Original of permit to be issued to foreign national, information to be included in permit, etc.

10. Restriction on grant of employment permit.

11. Consideration by Minister of application for employment permit.

12. Refusal to grant employment permit.

13. Review of decision to refuse permit.

14. Regulations governing grant of permits, etc.

15. Criteria to which regard is to be had in making regulations under section 14.

16. Revocation of employment permit.

17. Review of decision to revoke permit.

18. Prohibition on forgery, fraudulent alteration or fraudulent use of employment permit.

19. Prohibition on certain use of employment permit.

20. Renewal of employment permit.

21. Effect of order under section 3 or 4 of Immigration Act 1999.

22. Authorised officers.

23. Prohibition on deduction from remuneration and retention of personal documents.

24. Surrender of employment permit.

25. Provision of false or misleading information in relation to application under section 4 or 20.

26. Prohibition on penalisation.

27. Retention of records.

28. Register of employment permits.

29. Regulations.

30. Further provisions in relation to regulations.

31. Service of notices.

32. Penalties and proceedings.

33. Offences by body corporate.

34. Presumption that a person is being employed.

35. Evidence through television link.

36. Delegation of functions.

37. Data exchange in respect of certain matters.

38. Transitional provision.

39. Amendment of section 1(1) of Act of 2003.

40. Expenses.

41. Short title, collective citation, construction and commencement.

SCHEDULE 1

Enactments offences under which fall within section 12 (1)(c)

SCHEDULE 2

Redress for Contravention of section 26 (3)


Acts Referred to

Bankruptcy Act 1988

1988, No. 27

Carers Leave Act 2001

2001, No. 19

Companies Act 1963

1963, No. 33

Companies Act 1990

1990, No. 33

Companies (Amendment) Act 1982

1982, No. 10

Courts Act 1981

1981, No. 11

Electronic Commerce Act 2000

2000, No. 27

Employment Agency Act 1971

1971, No. 27

Employment Permits Act 2003

2003, No. 7

European Communities Acts 1972 to 2003

Immigration Act 1999

1999, No. 22

Immigration Act 2004

2004, No. 1

Industrial Relations Act 1946

1946, No. 26

Industrial Relations Act 1990

1990, No. 19

Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956

1956, No. 26

Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005

National Minimum Wage Act 2000

2000, No. 5

Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

1997, No. 20

Payment of Wages Act 1991

1991, No. 25

Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851

14 & 15 Vic., c. 93

Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvancy) Act 1984

1984, No. 21

Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003

2003, No. 29

Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001

2001, No. 45

Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996

1996, No. 16

Redundancy Payments Act 1967

1967, No. 21

Refugee Act 1996

1996, No. 17

Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005

2005, No. 10

Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2005


Number 16 of 2006


EMPLOYMENT PERMITS ACT 2006


AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE GRANT OF EMPLOYMENT PERMITS TO CERTAIN FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR THE PURPOSE OF PERMITTING THEM TO BE IN EMPLOYMENT IN THE STATE, TO ENABLE THE MINISTER FOR ENTERPRISE, TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT TO MAKE, HAVING HAD REGARD TO CERTAIN CRITERIA, REGULATIONS IMPOSING A LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF SUCH PERMITS THAT MAY BE GRANTED IN A PARTICULAR PERIOD AND IMPOSING CERTAIN OTHER RESTRICTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE GRANT OF SUCH PERMITS, TO OTHERWISE REGULATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN FOREIGN NATIONALS IN THE STATE AND PROVIDE CERTAIN PROTECTIONS FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS IN EMPLOYMENT IN THE STATE, TO AMEND THE EMPLOYMENT PERMITS ACT 2003 AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.

[23rd June, 2006]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

Interpretation.

1.— (1) In this Act—

“ Act of 2003 ” means the Employment Permits Act 2003 ;

“ application ” means an application under section 4 ;

“ application by a foreign national ” shall be construed in accordance with section 4 (4);

“ citizen ” means an Irish citizen within the meaning of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 ;

“ economic sector ” means a sector of the economy concerned with a specific economic activity requiring specific qualifications, skills or knowledge;

“ employer ” means the employer (as defined in the Act of 2003) who—

(a) employs a foreign national pursuant to an employment permit, or

(b) in the case of a permit granted on foot of an application by a foreign national, for the time being employs a foreign national pursuant to an employment permit;

“ employment permit ” means an employment permit granted under section 8 ;

“ employment regulation order ” means an order under section 48 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 ;

“holder”, in relation to an employment permit, means the foreign national to whom it has been granted;

“ Member State of the EEA ” means a state that is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as amended for the time being;

“ Minister ” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

“ national minimum hourly rate of pay ” has the meaning assigned to it by the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 ;

“ foreign national ” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2003;

“ foreign national concerned ” shall be construed in accordance with section 5 (1);

“ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“ public interest ” includes—

(a) public order and the interests of national security,

(b) public health and safety, and

(c) the need to protect the labour market;

“ registered employment agreement ” has the meaning assigned to it by section 25 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946 ;

“ remuneration ”, in relation to an employee, means—

(a) any consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which the employee receives, directly or indirectly, from the employer in respect of the employment, and

(b) any amounts the employee will be entitled to receive on foot of any pension scheme or arrangement.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person (the “first person”) is not, by virtue of the following contract with another (the “second person”), an employer of the second person.

(3) That contract is one which—

(a) provides that the second person is to do work or perform a service for a third person (whether the third person is a party to the contract or not), and

(b) has been entered into by the first person in the course of carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 ,

whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing.

Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2003.

2.— Section 2 of the Act of 2003 is amended by substituting the following for subsections (1) and (2):

“(1) A foreign national shall not—

(a) enter the service of an employer in the State, or

(b) be in employment in the State,

except in accordance with an employment permit granted by the Minister under section 8 of the Employment Permits Act 2006 that is in force.

(1A) Subsection (1)(b) applies whether the employment concerned results from—

(a) the foreign national’s being employed in the State by a person,

(b) his or her being employed by a person outside the State (the ‘contractor’) to perform duties in the State, the subject of an agreement between the contractor and another person, or

(c) any other arrangement.

(2) A person shall not employ a foreign national in the State except in accordance with an employment permit granted by the Minister under section 8 of the Employment Permits Act 2006 that is in force.

(2A) Where a person (the ‘first person’) enters into an agreement with another person (the ‘second person’) whereby the second person agrees to cause, or arrange for, services (whether of a specific or general kind) to be rendered on behalf of the first person and either—

(a) it is customary in the trade or business in which the agreement is entered into, or

(b) the circumstances in which the agreement is entered into are such that it must reasonably have been in the contemplation of the parties to the agreement,

that the means to be used by the second person for complying with the agreement would consist of or involve, in whole or part, the services being rendered by persons employed by a person other than the second person (and whether or not that person is in a contractual relationship with the second person) then, if those means are used, it shall be the duty of the first person to take the following steps.

(2B) Those steps are all such steps as are reasonable to ensure, in so far as one or more of the persons so employed is or are a foreign national or foreign nationals employed in the State for the purpose of rendering those services, that that foreign national or each of those foreign nationals is employed in accordance with an employment permit granted...

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