Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the officials and thank them for coming before the committee. I thank Ms Murphy for updating us on the progress of the proposed EU directive. She said in her opening statement that in some cases the Irish legislation goes beyond what Europe was seeking and in some cases does not go as far. We do not know exactly when this directive will ultimately emerge so we will have to get on with the Bill because, as Ms Murphy said, it has been three years in gestation. All we can do is try to anticipate it as best we can. It is virtually certain that when the directive becomes law here, we will have to amend the Bill. I wish to ask Ms Murphy a number of questions. She referred to various representations or various submissions made by various member states, particularly concerning the area of casual work. Have we made any submissions as a State? Have we put in any observations on the directive? This is a negotiating process. As we go along we will presumably make further representations. Will this committee have an input into that? Will we be able to tell the Department what we would like to see in the EU directive?