International English language student representatives have told an Oireachtas committee hearing that the number of hours that students are allowed to work should be increased from 20 to 30 per week in order to combat exploitation by some employers.
Fiachra Ó Luain of the English Language Students Union of Ireland told the Oireachtas Committee on Education that non-EU students who come to Ireland on special visas to learn English and work, cannot survive on the wages earned from working only the legal limit of up to 20 hours per week.
The committee heard that while non-EU students were allowed to work up to 40 hours during the summer months, a 20 hour weekly limit was imposed for the rest of the year.
Calling the 20 hour limit "a myth" however, Mr Ó Luain said the reality was that students were being left with no option but to work longer hours illegally in order to make ends meet, and that sometimes they were being paid below the minimum wage for the additional hours they worked.
Mr Ó Luain said the limit left students with little English, "who are less likely to know their rights or know how to complain when things go wrong", vulnerable to exploitation which increasing the legal working hours to 30 per week would help combat.
He also complained of "very little, if any" enforcement of rules in the sector.
"When transgressions of schools and agents are identified," he told politicians, "rarely does there seem to be any consequences".
Work hour limits for non-EU students unfair, cttee hears
International English language student representatives have told an Oireachtas committee hearing that the number of hours that students are allowed to work should be increased from 20 to 30 per week in order to combat exploitation by some employers.