Mr. David Joyce:

Senator Higgins did touch on some of that. We were pointing out that the EU directive is really important in making the changes Deputy Cronin mentioned. It is the first ever EU legislation to explicitly aim at increasing collective bargaining. That is really welcome from our perspective. It also talks of collective bargaining being the prerogative of trade unions and not a vague workers representative-type thing. That is really important from our point of view also. It guarantees a right to collective bargaining and protection for those who engage or who wish to engage in collective bargaining too. Any country with coverage of less than 80% in terms of collective bargaining agreements will also have to take a number of actions, including the development of a national action plan to promote collective bargaining. The work that is going on in LEEF is to consider how some of those issues might be addressed locally here in Ireland. I understand that it is very well developed and will address many of the issues the Deputy mentioned. I think we are on the cusp of a very important moment in terms of improving collective bargaining rights here and it is very welcome.