Under the new national agreement, government and unions have settled on tough new measures to protect the increasing number of mainly Filipino domestic servants who come here to cook, clean and mind the children of Irish families.

Some domestic workers earn as little as 25 for an 80-hour week with excessive amounts of money deducted for accommodation, according to ICTU president Peter McLoone.

But now families bringing in servants will now have to supply them with a written contract of employment detailing the hours of work, rates of pay, duties, breaks, holiday entitlements and travel arrangements.

The family will also have to make provision to safeguard the servants' privacy and will not be allowed to hold on to any of their personal documents, such as passports.

Any additional duties required will have to be agreed in advance "and out of pocket expenses will be reimbursed promptly", according to the agreement.

The family must also "facilitate the employee in the free exercise of personal pursuits" and must allow them to join a trade union if they wish.

The new protection measures will be drawn up by the Labour Relations Commission in a code of practice before the end of the year.

While such a code is not legally enforceable, the government has agreed with the unions that if the code is ignored it will enshrine the protection measures in a legally enforceable joint labour committee for domestic workers.

This will allow the government's labour inspectors to enter private homes to make sure that the legal minimum wages and conditions are being offered to domestic workers.