Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

My colleague the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, presented the background and context to this Bill on Tuesday. He summarised its contents up to and including section 20. I will resume the summary, beginning with section 21.

A new section 21 was introduced on Committee Stage in the Seanad. The section transposes an optional provision of another EU Council directive, Directive 2001/23/EC, which provides that in a transfer of undertaking, the transferor must notify the transferee of all the rights and obligations arising from a contract of employment existing on the date of transfer which will be transferred to the transferee. If a transferee is required by a rights commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal to pay compensation to an employee because of a failure of the transferor to provide the necessary information, the transferee has a right of action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover some or all of the amount paid in compensation. There were another three optional provisions which have not been agreed with the social partners and which I was not in a position to introduce. However, I welcome the inclusion of the new section 21, which has been agreed.

Section 22 is a standard provision dealing with the Short Title of the Bill. It also provides that the Bill shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders.

The Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 seeks, as it must, to transpose fully the EU directive on information and consultation into Irish law. As I mentioned, in framing this legislation there was extensive consultation with the representatives of the business community and the representatives of employees. There was some delay in transposing the legislation because there were very complex issues involved and it proved very difficult to reach consensus on them. However, on the plus side, the additional time has resulted in a far more balanced Bill. The debate in the Seanad has also informed the text of the Bill. A number of amendments were accepted in the Seanad and I made some technical amendments.

The legislation represents a balanced approach within the requirements of the directive. The provision of information and consultation of employees is good practice. The Bill ensures workers will have a right to information and consultation in regard to their companies. The approval of the workforce is key to ensuring that both negotiated and pre-existing agreements reflect the concerns and meet the needs of both sides. Employees' representatives are given stronger protections and rights of redress in this Bill than in any other employment rights or industrial relations Bill to date.

The Government approach to the Bill has been to facilitate a co-operative and positive approach by individual companies and their employees in meeting the objectives of the directive. This approach has resulted in a Bill which recognises the voluntarist tradition in Irish industrial relations and which will assist companies and their employees in establishing effective and efficient information and consultation arrangements.

This Bill is without doubt a welcome addition to our employment rights and industrial relations legislation and represents an important opportunity to foster and deepen customised partnership-style approaches to anticipating and managing change. The Bill affords the opportunity to meet the challenge of embedding partnership at enterprise level and making it a reality for workers and employers.

As I said on Second Stage in the Seanad, I look forward to hearing the contributions of Members on all sides of the House. I will continue to approach the Bill in an open-minded fashion. It is true that the debate in the Seanad, on all Stages, had a significant impact. I accepted some amendments to which I might have been less open at the commencement of the debate. I commend the Bill to the House.

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