Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 166: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when the EU Directive 2008/14/EC on Temporary Agency Work is due to be transposed into Irish law. [40588/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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European Directive 2008/104/EC on Temporary Agency Work was adopted in 2008 with a transposition date of 5 December 2011. A central aim of the Directive is to ensure protection of temporary agency workers by applying the principle of equal treatment in their basic working and employment conditions.

Earlier this week, Government approved the publication of a Bill entitled Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011 to transpose the provisions of the Directive and the Bill will be published this week. This is one of the priority Bills for my Department and the intention is to progress the Bill to early enactment in the Houses of the Oireachtas in the new parliamentary session in 2012. When enacted, the Bill will, with the exception of the provisions that create offences, have retrospective effect to 5 December, 2011.

This means that with effect from 5 December 2011, temporary agency workers employed by employment agencies and assigned to work with a hirer, are entitled to equal treatment in basic working and employment conditions in the same way as if they were directly recruited by the hirer to the same job. My Department has engaged with the representatives of Employment Agencies and hirer undertakings with a view to making appropriate arrangements to ensure that equal treatment is given effect from 5 December, 2011 in respect of all temporary agency workers.