A couple things about this piece. Firstly, as several others have pointed out, the framing is entirely wrong, victim-blamey, and misses much more important issues around the student regime and the gig economy https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/thiagos-visa-did-not-allow-him-to-work-for-deliveroo-39545166.html

Second, there is no actual law against non-EEA students working for Deliveroo. As with most of Irish immigration, the student scheme is non-statutory. There’s a policy doc which says self-employment breaches the terms of the permission. But is it really aimed at Deliveroo riders?

I mean elsewhere the document says “casual employment” is permitted and, let’s face it, you don’t get much more casual than that.
As an aside, I’ve never personally seen someone lose their student permission due to self-employment. Maybe others have, I dunno.

Anyway the policy document is nearly a decade old now - January 2011 - so predates the existence of Deliveroo and the explosion of the gig economy generally. That needs to be borne in mind when interpreting its ban on self-employment.

On a final note, a little pet peeve of mine. Thiago did not have a visa. A visa is a permission to present at the border and seek admission to the State. Brazilians are not required to obtain these before travelling to Ireland.
Sin é