Mr. Denis Sheridan:

Deputy Bruton is correct in what he says. European works councils were transposed into Irish law in 1996, when we were coming off the back of a major recession and there was an onus on Ireland to attract multinationals, as the Deputy stated. However, one of the big things the Government did at that time - and this is why we believe the transposition was done in the way it was done - was go to great lengths to ensure that collective bargaining rights were not given through that legislation. One of the fears of multinationals coming into Ireland was that this was a means for collective bargaining. The Government at the time transposed the directive into Irish law, as difficult as it was, to alleviate those fears. The EWCs are not an industrial relations forum. Multinationals have seen that. They are a very good forum for the exchange of views on the business needs of companies. No industrial relations problems are discussed. Such discussions are not allowed within the EWC forum. The directive deals with that and states that EWCs are solely for the purposes of informing and consulting. A lot of multinationals have seen the benefits of this because a lot of good has come from having central management from around Europe sitting in the room with worker representatives from around Europe discussing business needs and what is happening within businesses. A lot of good has been done in that regard. Even though the EWC is not an industrial relations forum, I have witnessed industrial relations problems being solved by EWCs because central management comes into a room with worker representatives and sits down and discusses issues it will have. Industrial relations problems may arise from that but they are cut off at the pass. Multinationals that have good EWCs therefore see the benefit of sitting with and talking to their workers, and the workers in turn see the benefits of sitting with and talking to central management and seeing clear pictures. That is why the whole spectrum has changed. It is because we can see what is happening and we get a clearer understanding. Generally, if a decision is going to be made within Europe involving redundancies and closures, the European works council is informed first. Its representatives get an opportunity to look at the information given to them and to provide an informed response which assists the process such that when each country goes back to its locality, the workers can tell their members what has happened in order that there is a clear understanding. It is of great benefit to both sides.