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Updated: 5.18pm
AN IRISH FAMILY has been ordered to pay a Spanish au pair who worked for them €9,229.
The move has been described as a ‘landmark’ decision by the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), which supported the au pair in her appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
The au pair had been paid €100 a week by the family, the MRCI said. It said that the family was found to have breached aspects of the National Minimum Wage Act, the Organisation of Working Time Act, and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act. They accepted the judgement of the WRC and paid the award in full.
The au pair released a statement through the MRCI which said:
When I arrived at the Migrant Rights Centre I was exhausted, depressed and weak. It has been a long process, and many people there worked on my case; finally I have found the reward and respect that I needed. Without all those people, this would be impossible.
And that is why I want to say to all au pairs: you deserve to be respected, because you have in your care the most precious part of a family, the children. And that is a huge responsibility. I felt as though the children were my family, and it is very hard to leave a situation of exploitation when you feel such an enormous love for them. But at last I had to start this process.
With this judgment I feel respected for my work at last.
She said she believes “it is very important for everyone to become aware of this situation”, and hopes “that au pairs will no longer be exploited as cheap labour”.
MRCI Legal Officer Virginija Petrauskaite said that this judgment “sends a very clear message: au pairs are workers, and any family employing an au pair must abide by employment laws – including the National Minimum Wage Act”.
She said this case is not an exception.
Petrauskaite continued: “There is a childcare crisis in this country, but exploitation is not the solution. The new government must ensure au pairs and families are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities, and must urgently crack down on the many au pair agencies advertising illegal working conditions to employers and workers alike.”
Cost of childcare
Speaking following the judgement, Fianna Fáil’s jobs spokesperson Dara Calleary said the next government needs to carefully examine the ruling.
“Au pairs are currently working in up to 20,000 Irish homes. This situation has arisen because more and more parents are relying on au pairs as primary childminders due to the soaring costs of childcare.
Au pairs often work in excess of 60 hours a week while being paid as little as €100. They provide an on call service, work over the weekends and on public holidays. The Labour Court has consistently highlighted serious concerns with the manner in which au pairs are being treated in some households.
“The authorities should examine the idea of introducing a definition of the job and responsibilities associated with au pair work. This will help prevent any exploitation for people employed in such a role.”
- with reporting from Órla Ryan
Wow expect a bucket load of court cases from existing and previous au pairs
Hope so. They were exploited for long enough. Also hope the Au Pair agencies are fully investigated and charged with slave labour.
That would imply that they employed slaves, which is not true.
Fianna Fail bemoans the soaring cost of childcare when they, FG and Labour have left the provision of this service at the mercy of the free market where profit maximisation is the name of the game. Laughable hypocrisy.
Yep but they would need to get a lawyer etc. the other issue is the au pairs from outside the EU who are here as tourists with no work permit as this is a cash industry. I’m guessing getting an au pair work permit takes time to get so they just go down the tourist/cash route with no contract.
What the family should do is back date rent and food and bills charges then also.
Most non-EU au pairs are here on student visas and are permitted to work 20 hrs or 40 hrs a week depending on the time of year. There is no such thing as an au pair visa for Ireland.
The maximum an employer can deduct from wages in lieu of board and lodgings is €54.13 per week. That would be taken into account when calculating the wages due. See page 4 of this Workplace Relations publication: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Publications_Forms/Domestic-Workers-in-Ireland.pdf
Exactly
Is it not a bit risky treating someone so bad that looks after your kids
Well that’s a problem. If most of them are students they’re in breach by working over 20 hours per week. There should be au pair visas. Then this whole problem would go away
If €54.23 a week for board, food, all household bills is correct why does the social welfare not pay those on welfare this to those needy in our society? Because no where in the reality can anyone be housed feed and all bills paid for with €54.13 a week. You need to multiply that by 4 before you get any where close to the cost of room and board in this country.
Fair play to her, as Au Pairs are treated like dirt by families who think looking after their own children is beneath them
‘All’ ?
BTW in countries outside Ireland there is a special law for au pairs – to allow them. Most come over to learn english and live in someones home. Legislating for it would be better – as there are many au pairs in Ireland who come over from good families for the reason of learning english – and Irish kids go the other way.
Not really. It is usually struggling middle class families that hire au pairs because childcare is so high and both parents must work to keep the roof over their heads. Au pairs are also live for free in the house.
My better half was one in both the UK and Ireland and by and large they are treated like slaves.
If you have kids dont expect someone else to look after them, “the middle class” families you speak off are generally high earners and again believe looking after children beneath them.
I hope this opens the gates for more protection for ladies like this as the money they are paid is disgusting.
@failgael – what do you consider to be a ‘high earner’?
80K plus….
Your other halfs experience is not the norm – or else most middle class kids from Spain for example wouldn’t be coming over in droves. Your characterisation is unfair to say the least.. and 80,000 for a couple isn’t all that much. Especially if they’re both in full time employment 9-5.
Do you have any idea of childcare costs? A couple each earning 40k would struggle to pay childcare if you factor in rent or mortgage costs. If an au pair is paid minimum wage from now on. The family’s can just deduct rent, keep and bills etc from them.. something that was never done before. It’s incredibly insulting to say parents feel they are beneath minding their kids. Perhaps your partner had a bad experience but don’t tarnish all on your own personal opinion
Youd think this could never happen in the fair republic of ireland
So its ok to pay shite wages to the aupair so the middle class family can maintain the master/servant relationship?
They shouldnt have kids if they cant afford them; isnt that what they preach to what they call the lower orders ?
I’m pretty sure you are the one with some sort of class disorder or warped view of a class structure.. and in your other comment of generalisation of the south side!
@Fail Gael. I know many families with au pairs – I have never had one – but they are not high earners looking for someone to look after their spoilt brats, but hard working families who need childcare. Most au pairs I have known have been happy with the situation. One or two have been exploited, and that is unacceptable, but the majority have had excellent experiences.
I can see then families countersuing for unpaid lodging and board
Cholly couple on 40K each have monthly income over 5K nett. What are you doing with money genuine question if you think it’s too low to pay childcare? We had much less than this and we had quite high rent and paid crèche for 2 kids (not at the same time though) and still managed to save tiny bit / go for holiday etc. Anyway au pair should be regulated too.
cholly appleseed. With the cost of rent in ireland the au pair will have to add to their wages from another source to cover the cost.
Tomasz, no 80k income is not that much and since I’m on that exact situation let me run for you the calculations: so you get a better understanding.
+Income: 5000
-1600 mortgage
- 1060 Creche child 1
- 580 after school care child 2
- 500 food
- 100 car insurance x 2 cars
- 200 petrol x 2 cars
- 120 mobile x 2
- 100 house/life
- 200 health
- 100 broadband/tv
- 200 avg water/gas/elect
The above does not include kids activities, gym, Zumba, football, Sunday lunches, pints with mates, haircut, shaves whatever, you name it. So no it’s not a lot. You would struggle trying to save for the summer holidays or midterm breaks.
Delighted.
For far too long au pairs have been treated like slaves in many households.
A daily grind from which there is no escape.
They can leave whenever they want.
Actually James in many cases they are literally slaves and can’t
And now they are going to have no job and jave to fond their own accommodation arnt they!
U speak for all those who employ au pairs? There are law abidin employers & then there are those who aren’t.
How many hours a week did she work for that €100?
There’s really no context to this story without knowing this.
Generally these ladies get 1 day off a week and work anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day looking after little spoilt darlings…
“The au pair was paid €100 a week plus board for between 30 and 60 hours of work per week during her employment with the family between August 2014 and January 2015.
In November 2014 she was paid €200 a week when her employer was away and she assumed full responsibility for household activities and looking after the children, 7am-6pm Monday to Friday.”
I thought an au pair by law can only work up to 20hrs per week and gets free room and board? Otherwise they are looking for a live in nanny which is a lot more money.
Actually there’s loads of people in South Dublin employing very cheap and sometimes free workers. They all do it and their friends do it and none of them pay anything approaching a fair wage. Knock on a few doors in Kiliney foxrock deansgrange and see who answers them
Nope. There is no legal regulation of Au pairs. The state has always refused to get involved up until this case.
Fail Gael you need to up your trolling a notch
Karol, regardless of how many hours she worked a week, she was staying with the family, using s room, eating with the family, learning English. If she didn’t like the working hours, why didn’t she leave!?
Maybe they WERE treating her like a slave which would’ve meant keep in her passport ever thing of that. Slavery still does go on just need to take your head out of your arise. It’s not o.k. to work someone into the ground .
Rian,
I was just asking a simple question that really should have been answered in the article.
alot of rubbish being spouted here. au pairs in ireland look after kids for up to 20-25 hrs per week. they get weekends and bank holidays off. In return they get 100-120 euro per week to use as they please. free lodgings, free heat, free electricity, free food, they get use of a car during the day where they have to pay nothing for, no diesel, no tax, no insurance. This is my personal experience and I can tell its not a hard life by any means. we also paid gym membership for our aupairs who wanted it. not all au pairs are treated like dirt.
Take that silver spoon out of your arse. Disgusting morals you have.
ha good man gravy train. im not condoning this article. 30-60hrs per week is slave labour. there are people in every facet of life that abuse the system
Fair enough. That’s your experience Paddy. I know of quite a lot of women who have had the opposite experience where they were literally treated as slaves and doing everything in the household – approx 100 hrs per week
Your “personal experience” is very much at odds with reality. A whole weekend off is unheard of. And use of the car – do you honestly think this is commonplace?
They should have gone through Jobsbridge and set it up as an internship. Amateurs.
Au pairing is a cosy arrangement where a person learning English gets room, board and some money and the family gets to avoid expensive crèches.
This ruling means Au pairs will be expected to find their own accommodation, food etc or more likely this will make Au pairing impossible in Ireland.
It’s a move to force couples to use crèches or quit their jobs. Pretty horrible. Not good for anyone except the tax man.
Color – I disagree Many au pairs are not give a choice about their accommodation and effectively become endentured servants expected to be at the beck and call of family and children 24/7. Looking after children is never cosy and add in housework and other duties most au pairs are lucky to crawl into bed without any downtime. Horrible exploitative position where the worker has few rights and no representation. I have to laugh that often niave and unexperienced strangers are expected to take on full parental responsibility. Crazy scenario tbh.
*Conor
It’s clearly a decision which protects those being exploited so you’re talking nonsense Conor.
So hard to get good staff these days dont you find? Grow up, your not living in 30s Kenya
They should pay the Au Pair €9.50 per hour then let her pay PRSI, USC out of it.
Then when that is done she pays you a weekly rent and extra for groceries/electricity/internet/phone/water etc etc
and let’s see if she walks away with €100 a week.
I would think not.
A comment that states that if the employee was paid €9.50 per hour and then deducted for rent, food and utilities would have less than €100 at the end of the week is saying that the value of food/board per week is €250 or more per week. There in lies the problem. F&B at €52 per week does not exist. The system works fine if people stick to the contract. In 99% of cases it works for both parties and it allow mothers or parents to work part time and remain in the workforce. Note that in Switzerland and Denmark and other regimes the food & board is completely different priced. If your family does not stick to the agreement you should take action. Live out au pair and high hour weeks are not acceptable.
The standard contract for an au pair state that they should work no more than 20h a week for 100euro + food and board. It state also that they shouldn’t contribute with house work. And this would be almost fare.
I have many friend that did the au pair in Ireland and what actually happen is that they have to work 40+ hours a week, including weekends and holidays, without getting any extra money. It seems only fair that the extra hours would be paid at least at minimum wage.
If you signed a part time contract for 4h a day, you get paid for 4h a day, but end up working 8+ hours a day, wouldn’t you consider it unfair? You would probably leave the job, but au pairs don’t have this choice as usually they paid in advance for English courses and plane tickets.
If families can’t afford to pay them a fair price, and I really doubt so having seen the houses they live in (Blackrock and Castleknock in my case), then they should have them work less hours. There’s no excuse to exploit a person’s work.
Good points Mattia. Don’t let yourself be exploited as people will try and get away with whatever they can its human nature. If you find yourself being exploited in the work place leave and take the proper procedures against your employer. However in this case I think the majority of Au Pairs will be worse off because of this judgement. Employers have rights also people seem to forget that.
And people have a right not to be treated like dirt take a look out the window u ‘ll find we ‘re in the EU not Afghanistan.
The EU is a fantasie living in lala land not relevant to any countries internal issues like this.
Most are treated like slaves imo by people who should know better.
I never employed an au pair when my children were being reared & would not expect Irish People to treat them badly. My children attended Creches while my wife worked part-time which included evenings till 9.30.
Adendum – An au pair is provided with lodgings – accomodation & food & in this case €100 a wk. In Dublin this would be the equivalent of at least €300 – €350 per week – Roughly a 35hr wk. If ‘Middle Clas’ coupkes oawn their chikdren on the au pair for longer hrs they should pay more.
An au pair is only allowed work 20 hrs a week.
You are so wrong, who is there to enforce that ???
Modern day slavery
They get free room and breakfast lunch and dinner provided for them no bills eg electricity heating television. I no families who pay for gym and pool membership for them. That sounds like a v unfair judgment I can’t see families providing this opertunity for young woman who want to see and travel europe now. They only have themselves to blame.
The families you know are the exception most families doing this are from the highend of earners.
If they want someone to work for them, pay them right as the responsibility for looking after someone elses kids is massive.
Some of the Au Pairs or Nannies I know have their work cut out with this little over entitled darlings that will do the same as Mummy and Daddy and will be shipped off to boarding school because their parents are to busy with their careers and let some underling in their eyes do the job they should be doing…
Thats fine fail gail. Pay them minimum wage cut there hours and make them pay rent and chip in for the bills of the house. Our tell them to move out and get there own accommodation. That is what will come from this.
This is something you cant answear,Ive been an Au pair myself, and the houers and the Way i was treated was not fair and right in any way for that what some Au Pairs go trough they should be payd Minimum wages
Yes Catherina you should be paid minimum wage just as you should pay rent and bills.
Au pairs could find themselves worse off when they get a dose of reality with irelands rental market when they have to pay rent.
Vincent there is an allowance deducted from their wage for their rent so do your research before spreading crap!
you can find the figures here…
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/types_of_employment/domestic_workers_in_ireland.html
Looking up citizens info counts as research does it? Thats fine now they can pay market price for there rent.
Fascist. Shes entitled to a fair wage. Would you work for the crap money shes on?
After I pay my mortgage and bills i wouldn’t be left with much more than 100e in pocket change.
Hahaha I am a Facist for having a different opinion to yours. If I was getting free room and board Id think about it if I was in my early 20s and got to see another country ya. Just out of curiosity can you define facism without looking it up. Its funny how guys in celtic jerseys have recently found that word.
How much time and money would you have to see another country ask yourself that. Living with another family 24\7 knowing your every move pay rent bills for no privacy and your the outsider. Time off still their house and kids still there
Fail Gail – are you speaking from experience are are you just spouting your opinion…just because there are some familes that abuse the au pair system doesn’t mean every family does the same..im speaking from experience..not all middle earners have a choice…the article does not say how many children she was expected to look after…i do agree au pairs should not be exploited…but i don’t agree they are workers either….they choose to be au pairs to learn English..to be part of a family and to get cash to live and travel…stop assuming every families does what you think they do
Jonny..would u rent out a room and full board in your house for 7.73 per day in Dublin?
Would you employ someone and pay them €2/hour?
The family in question should now go after the au pair for unpaid rent and bills.
If you stay in someone’s house you should pay your way.
Insulting someone while hiding behind your avatar. Coward.
Vincent your a vile leech and atypical of the entitled whats in it for me society…Do one you disgusting vile neanderthal
Hahaha how do you get that from what I have said?
They are priced out of the market by this move. No au pair will get minimum wage from this. Crèches will get the children instead and the government will get the tax money.
As I said earlier, a little more money for the government and less children being born as they become that bit more unaffordable.
We move closer to the European model of not having children step by step.
Way too many people on the planet anyway conor
What will happen is that one parent will give up work and sorry to say it will mostly be the mother ( by choice).
I would have thought €100, allowing them time for English classes and weekends off is average for an au pair in Ireland. You do live in for free….
Jennie. They could be looking after four kids with two in school and two at home. They doing school run washing cooking etc. Parents have it good tbh. I’m not saying all but the majority treat them like slaves.
@donna moss. I find it hard to believe Irish people would treat others so badly – its not in our make-up or is it now. Your probably talking about our new high flying ‘middle class’ people whose careers & ego are the priority in life, their children an accessory & are used to ordering people about in their ‘high profile’ jobs. Sad.
James I know two families who abuse their live in nanny. They are in normal jobs. It’s cheaper than the creche and they come nd go as they please.
Eh I don’t think so Jdelaney…. A good friend of mine was an au pair 20 years ago and she said the family treated her like a slave ….up from cocks crow to get children ready for school while mammy and daddy slept on and was never off duty while she was in the house…..
@windbag. As I said I’ve no knowledge if the au-pair set up. I just find it hard to believe Irish people would treat them like slaves & not ensure they had time to enjoy some of their time here. Any person who minds peoples children should be aporeciated properly by the parents.
Of course they should be appreciated…. You and I know that but the sad fact is more times out of ten there not…. And I hate the thought of an au pair going home with only bad things to say about Ireland because this is a beautiful country of ours…
They could also be looking after one kid that is at school.
This didn’t happen in Darndale , most likely one of those ‘good families’ that you hear Judges talking about ….
Aupair me whole! Slave more like. Irish people are great at justifying slave labour be it jobsbridge etc or taking advantage of foreign students.
@kalon. A good comparison. Jobbridge & internships are an ‘offical’ type of slavery. Shame on those who abuse this Government supported ‘scheme’. Would they like their own sons & daughters to be treated likewise.
Looking after someone else’s rotten grubs….not enough tea in china!
Could everyone read this before saying that au pairs get accommodation for free.. You’re wrong!
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/types_of_employment/domestic_workers_in_ireland.html
€54 a week for food and board might as well be free.
The employer should deduct €21.85 per week for lodgings from the Au Pairs pay? Id love to see how many rooms in SDCC cost €80 a month. More like €600.
WHAT ABOUT JOBBRIDGE SLAVES. THEY GET 50 EURO FOR A 40 HOUR WEEK WITH NO FOOD OF BOARD. MUCH WORSE CONDTIONS THAN AUPAIRS
She agreed to work under those arrangements…
Family were likely naive should have hired a better lawyer. A decent one could have gotten a he said, she said case quibbling over exactly how many hours ‘work’ this young lady did and the value of her total compensation at market rates for room and board in South Dublin tossed out of court fast.
Do they get to charge her for room and board in arrears? It’s only fair.
I was an au pair in France. Now I keep au pairs. This full wages thing is a joke. It would mean that we would have an employee and not a girl who is part of our family. It would mean that I wouldn’t be able to take the employee to the cinema with us, to party’s with us, out to meals and foreign holidays with us. I wouldn’t be able to afford to include her in family outings and weekend breaks either. I simply couldn’t afford it. It would end the great relationship and friendship we have with our au pairs and as a result their experience as an au pair would be effected. As a person who was on both sides of this I can speak from experience as this is absolutely ridiculous. The only winner here would be the tax man!
Giving the au pair a room in your house, cooking for them, letting them have free most weekends, teaching them English whilst whilst making sacrifices loosing your privacy of having family time and paying them 100 euro a week and it is unfair! Why would anyone get an au pair other then being the most affordable but if you calculate the cost, you’re actually only saving a couple of 100 a month which is not worth having an au pair. No one forced this women not to leave the after a week if she didn’t like it but she took an opportunity and I hope she spends that money in medications. I hope there aren’t many like her out there.
It’s good to see that the exploitation of young vulnerable people is being taken seriously at last.
There’s a lot more to do.
We need to outlaw bogus zero hour and ‘contractor’ employment schemes where people are exploited.
I only got 100€ a week can i get Money back to?
You are probably out of time Catharina. Unless it has happened in the last six months………
The limit can be extended to 12 months, have a look at the link below.
My ex was an Au pair and the family were very kind to her, Kids use to say they loved her and took her on holidays etc etc.
However I know another story of a very wealthy and privileged family in South County Dublin where the mother was cruel to a young Brazilian girl, insults, berating, working her like a slave. etc. The girl who I knew was very attractive and flirtatious had enough and after been flirting with the womans husband for a few weeks,one night the wife was away she got him drunk, seduced him and slept with him, knowing full well the wife use to record the bedroom with a tiny hidden camera.I guess what goes around comes around.
Hey Colin, did you watch that in tube8?
I wonder how many FG and FF people are employing Au Pairs?
Modern day slavery full stop
Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the family to hire someone on a ce scheme?
The cheek of FF talking about soaring childcare costs. How many years were they in power, and did almost nothing about this?
No tax credits for childcare costs for working parents for fear of losing votes from stay-at-home parents.
Typical FF clinging-to-the-fence tactics. Too scared to lose votes to make any real reform.
Too willing to pit one sector of society against another.
But sure, why not? Sure, let’s vote then back in again. They’ll definitely have the balls to make real reforms now as a minority partner clinging to their mandate. Sure.
This is how they ruin the great possibilities of being an au pair. When you go to another country as an au pair you know those arrangements and in my opinion they are just fair. You “work” for 30h a week, that includes that you look after the kids and do some light housework. And what you get is so much: beside the 100€ a week and the free bed and board you learn English, you get so much love back from the kids, you get to know a new culture, you make such a great experience and you learn a lot for the rest of your life.
I was an au pair in Ireland and I was really happy with what I got for what I did. When you want to be an au pair you know about the situation and you ARE NOT A NANNY! It’s NOT a JOB!
Sorry for my English but it’s not my mother tongue.
Sry didn’t see that my first comment was posted.
Is accommodation and food taken into account. Surely thats worth at least 300/week
I doubt there is such a thing as a good experience being an au pair. Anyone with the cheek to get one has the cheek to treat people badly.
What the *uck are you on? Talk sence you gobshit
I will bet you any amount of money that if you walked into English language schools in Dublin next week and surveyed 100 students and said – are you happy, are you doing more hours than agreed and are you enjoying ireland as a place to learn English you would be disappointed at the number of “slavery” or abused cases.
I would have paid any au pair very well ……. if the wife had let us have one!
Excusing bad behaviour that’s Data Calleary all over.
This is how they ruin the situation. Being an au pair is a great experience. You look after the kids and do some light housework for more or less 30h a week. It’s NOT a JOB, you are NOT a Nanny. You get so much more than “just” 100€ per week and free bed and board. You get so much love from the kids, you learn a new language, you get to know another culture, you meet people from all over the world. It’s an experience you make for the rest of your life. I was an au pair in Ireland too and I loved it.
Shame to those who abused their au pair – they ruined it for all the others!
Sorry for my English but it’s not my mother tongue.
I’ve been Aupair myself and I know a few of them,the most part of them are treated well.For the way I see it is as if you were part of the family,if you were in your house with your parents,taking care of your siblings and doing some housework as you live in that house aswell and the parents are woking,get all the bills paid,free accommodation,and they gave you 100 or 120 per week for your private costs?I think it’s quite fair.What is unfair is that the situation is not regulated as what it is,and that’s why some people take advantage of the aupairs. What should be paid as an employee is this live out Aupair thing,there’s not such a thing, that’s a nanny,that’s what the government should be worrying about.
And honestly,where in Ireland would you live paying rent,heating,internet,TV,electricity for 54 euro a week?That’s insane, maybe the ones that make the laws should try to live with that money and see what happens…
How about au pairs are provided accomodation and food while they are there?
I agree that they will ruin the concept of au pairs in Ireland. Au pairs shouldn’t be considered like workers because they are by definition a member of the family. They come in your family taking the place of a big sister for your children and they get POCKET MONEY, not wages. They get full accommodation and board and the family can take the au pair on holiday with them or to family days out. I do see why people say that their “wages” are rubbish (although nobody gets full rent and board for 45 euros a week in Dublin. …) but I do question the 30-60 hours of “work” a week. I will explain why.
I live in the uk and I’m on my own 100% with two kids now that my husband is working in ireland. We got an au pair to help me because I would be by myself all day and night and I was needing help when feeding both and someone to leave the kids to when I go to the toilet. In my case my au pair starts helping me when the kids wake up and finishes when they go to bed, which is roughly 7 am to 8 pm. Before you start talking of slavery for 75 British pounds a week, let me tell you that: 1) she gets regular breaks in the morning, afternoon and early evening. 2) she has 2 days off a week 3) she’s hardly ever by herself with the kids and I normally take the bigger burden when it comes to change nappies and such. 4) she’s on her phone all day and speaks to her family during the day of work and if she needs time off she just asks and gets it 5) the times she’s really needed are early morning to change both kids and give them breakfast (1 hour to say the most), lunchtime to feed both (1.5 hours? That’s exaggerating a little bit too…), bath and dinner time (2.5 hours to the most). So that’s really 5 hours real work per day. Other than that, she fiddles with her phone sometimes if she chooses she plays with the kids but that’s it. If they wake up during the night I’m the one who runs upstairs. The only time she woke up by herself was when my older son was sick and was throwing up badly. She woke herself up, I didn’t wake her, and she offered herself to stay in my bedroom and ensure the little one while I was dealing with my oldest. I never wake her up if there’s a problem at night time. I give her time off for walks if she wants it and things like that and am very flexible with her days off. I helped her opening a bank account, I treat her like a sister and with respect. I paid for her tickets to come to the uk and now that I went on holiday, I paid for her tickets to come with me to help me with the trip (I was on my own). She’s now having time with her family whilst I’m on holiday and I’m still paying her pocket money. She has long days, but besides the 5 hours I was counting, she doesn’t work much. I know not all au pairs are treated like this, but not every au pair is treated like shit. Sadly the people who were spoiling the system have destroyed it for everyone else who was doing it right. I won’t be able ,even if I and she wanted to, to bring my au pair to Ireland with us when we’ll move. We wouldn’t be able to afford it by giving her minimum wage, even if my husband’s paid well.
Sad, very sad.
I agree that they will ruin the concept of au pairs in Ireland. Au pairs shouldn’t be considered like workers because they are by definition a member of the family. They come in your family taking the place of a big sister for your children and they get POCKET MONEY, not wages
I have had au pairs and they have been very happy with their time in Ireland, some of the comments here are disgusting and i doubt if they even have children. If they do they must be deranged and living in cloud cuckoo land… but seriously to me its a win win situation they do 20-25 hours a week they come here to learn a new language in School( paid by parents ) food and board and many extras included with the family.
All this has done is to deter au pairs to Ireland and to deter parents from getting an au pair in the first place…
have your say