RTE Investigates - Au pairs in Ireland

argentina

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RTE Investigates - Au pairs in Ireland

Did anyone see this 'expose' last week? Didn't think it was too well put together and the presenter made every effort to sensationalise the issues. However parts of it were pretty terrible, highlighting incidents where au pairs are open to abuse and mistreatment. Its no surprise that the whole au pair industry is unregulated and open to abuse.
What surprised me though is that au pairs according to Employment legistation are Employees of the Host family and are entitled to at least minimum wage. Their Host families must register with revenue as Employers and pay PRSI etc. The maximum amount a Host family can deduct per week for Bed and Board is €54... Not sure why would anyone want to employ an au pair subject to these conditions.
But yet one of the well known au pair agencies has on its website 'An au pair is a young person who is treated as a family member in exchange for help with minding the children and a small amount of light housework. The au pair is given her/his own bedroom and food as well as pocket money. An au pair will usually work between 25 and no more than 35 hours per week..... Pocket money is usually between €100 and €120 per week.'

Just interested on other peoples view on this issue, is the Government neglecting this matter as the whole area of childcare and lack of any support for working parents (tax credits etc) has long been neglected and would need to be addressed. As the parent of young Children who has huge Childcare costs, many friends/ colleagues do opt for the au pair option as a cost-effective part-time childcare option.

Thanks
 
I saw the programme. Use words like sensationalise etc but the bottom line is that it appears most au pairs are overworked, underpaid and used in dreadful ways. I did my own bit of "investigation" on the matter to find that everything that was shown in the programmes seemed to be on the mark.

The dear price of childcare is the main driver in acquiring an au pair at a cheaper price. It would be difficult to convince me that "it is just to welcome a young lady from wherever to share our life while loving our children." One of my friends has four children and had as many au pairs in four weeks. The programme was accurate. The au pair fitted the bill to ensure mom and dad could each earn as much as they could outside of the home. Their children came second and if an au pair could be exploited then so be it.

Whatever way you look at the current au pair situation in modern Ireland, the bottom line is that it is cheap labour and only a step above from the sweat shop treatement in child labour of many workers in 3rd World countries. There is a minimum wage there for a reason and people working on well above this see no problem in paying much less to au pairs. As an Irish man I felt very ashamed having watched the television programme.
 
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