Mr. Martin Shanahan:

I thank the Deputy. At a high level, I should state, first, that anything the Houses do in respect of legislation should always have an eye to competitiveness. As people who market Ireland as a location for investment on a daily basis, the more positive things we have in our tool bag and the fewer negative things, the better. It is important to note that in respect of labour market flexibility, Ireland scores really highly on all international barometers. It is important to note - so that this is not taken out of context - that we really do well in this regard and I believe it is a tick in the favourable column for companies. In respect of the specific proposed legislation mentioned by the Deputy, my understanding of it is that it tries to strike a balance between protecting the competitiveness of Ireland as a location for multinationals and indigenous companies and protecting the rights of employees to engage in collective bargaining.

There has been significant engagement with both employers and employee representative groups during the course of developing the proposed legislation. The American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham, IBEC and the trade unions have all engaged with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and bilaterally. The legislation continues the tradition of the voluntarist nature of collective bargaining while seeking to protect employees. It tries to seek this balance and if it succeeds, well and good. We have yet to see the drafts.