Mr. Ger Gibbons:

That has happened in the past and we see it continuing in the future. We would point out that there have been some terrible cases, as the Chairman alluded to, in the past 20 years, including that of the Gama workers who were brought in and exploited. There has to be real protection for workers who are brought in to do that work and that means engaging with trade unions. We also see a need for work permits in the construction sector. It is a critical sector, so we very much support the need for work permits. It is an area where there is a shortage of workers, but we do need to ask whether we need the same level of work permits for sectors with poor-quality jobs. That is an issue we need to address.

In response to some of the overall comments and specifically the question on inertia, there is a reference in the action plan, at No. 59, to the completion of an action plan on collective bargaining. We see that as a step in the right direction but we are a little concerned at the apparent suggestion that there is a tension between productivity, competitiveness and collective bargaining. The point we would make is that if we want to improve productivity and competitiveness, we should promote collective bargaining. Unfortunately, that is not down as one of the priority actions in the action plan.. It is something that we would like to see progressed, however.

Dr. McDonnell talked about FDI and the industrial policy that we have had for the past 40 to 50 years. He also spoke about Ardnacrusha and what was done in respect of housing in the past. The trade union movement has been around for a very long time. If we look at the role that the Irish trade union movement has played in development here over the years, it is often forgotten that the first opening up of the Irish economy was undertaken in the 1940s. The Ministers involved at that time were former trade union officials. Mr. Dan Morrissey was an ITGWU official in the 1920s and Mr. William Norton was involved in what is now the Communication Workers' Union. The initial steps were taken in the 1940s and early 1950s and were then developed in the mid-1950s by Lemass and Whitaker. That is often forgotten.

We have been discussing these issues for some time. This is not the first time we have raised them. We would be very keen for the Government to follow through on the commitments it made in relation to the minimum wage directive. We keep talking about this-----