Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005. My colleague, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who is the Green Party spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, has outlined the party's general support for the Bill as it relates to the implementation of the EU directive, with the proviso that we are concerned that it has taken so long to advance the process of enactment of the directive. We are also concerned that the directive is being implemented in a narrow way, which means that an opportunity to advance Irish labour law could be lost. If there is ever a time when we need to show Irish labour law in the most positive light possible, this is it.

Deputy Hogan outlined the positive nature of some labour law that has emerged from EU directives in the past. I do not disagree with him in that regard, although I would probably take issue with his implication about those who have opposed various EU directives. The nature of the European Union has changed since Ireland became a member state in 1973. As the EU was largely protectionist in its economic inclinations at that time, its labour protection and equal opportunity legislation was geared to protect people as well as — perhaps I am mistaken — the economy.

We have since moved to another extreme in the EU's thinking, as it seems to be in favour of unrestricted laissez-faire free market economics. If we examine the Commission's most recent directives — I refer to labour directives, particularly the services directive — we will have concerns about how they value the role of workers within the economic process. Deputy Hogan also referred to the role of the Government in the most recent debate in this regard. Unfortunately, the Government has been philosophically inclined to support the prevailing view. It specifically opposed the mariners directive, which would have given employment rights to people who engage in their trade on the open seas, in international waters. The Government has taken a far from proactive position on this matter at EU level. It has helped to scupper the attempts to put in place positive legislation in that area.

The Bill, which is very welcome, will introduce some measures which are badly needed. There is a concern that the Bill seems to have been introduced in isolation, despite the lateness of its presentation. Given that other lacunae exist in employment legislation, I wonder why steps are not being taken to assist whistleblowers. People will trust information on the quality of a workplace or a commercial institution if they know the quality of the work being done is of the highest possible standard. We are introducing legislation that will ensure that people in most enterprises of a particular size are given information they can act upon to make their enterprises better. It is unfortunate that the Government has chosen not to legislate to allay the general concern about the action that might be taken against employees who expose illegal activity.

The concerns about the narrow implementation of the Bill relate to the fact that the Government has chosen to stagger the approach being taken in respect of companies with between 50 and 150 employees. The new regulations will not apply to enterprises with fewer than 50 employees. The definition of a small or medium sized enterprise is more appropriate in Ireland than it would be in some parts of Europe. Some SMEs in Germany have up to 15,000 employees, whereas most SMEs in Ireland employ fewer than 50 employees. While I accept Deputy Hogan's point about the need to avoid over-regulation — we should not over-burden SMEs through over-regulation — there is a need to introduce an appropriate culture in businesses of a smaller size. If we do not have a legislative instrument to do that, it is incumbent on the Government to say how it proposes to introduce the values to which the EU directive and the Bill aspire in enterprises of fewer than 50 employees.

Many larger enterprises in Ireland are not indigenous to this country. They are the companies whose foreign direct investment we have been fortunate enough to attract to Ireland. Many people have the impression that many such companies are operating here with the proviso that they can do so without the involvement of trade unions. While we are obliged, morally and otherwise, to introduce this directive into our legislation, I would be interested to know the degree to which the Government has consulted enterprises which do not operate in this culture. I refer to companies which do not go out of their way to discourage the existence of labour representation. I hope the introduction of this legislation does not conflict with that, but I suspect that it might. The Government needs to state how that difficulty might be overcome in any ministerial order it uses to introduce the Bill in various workplaces.

The need for all-embracing labour relations is especially pertinent in the present times. Public representatives of the various political parties need to send out a clear message that workers are most valued in all this country's economic enterprises. I fear that a debate is being engineered by those who do not share such values, but instead think that workers are expendable, are there to be used and are units of production. Regardless of whether we have legislation that informs workers of what is going on in the businesses in which they work and of how it is hoped to change and improve such businesses into the future, workers are less secure than ever before in the current employment context. There may be less interest in that at a time of high labour mobility and economic success, but that might not always be the case. Economic cycles occur and we have been more fortunate than most in our history in that this economic cycle has been longer and deeper in a positive sense than others. Despite this, a time may come when the expectation to be employed in an enterprise which guarantees future employment and properly values the individual contribution to the workings of an economic enterprise may no longer exist. If that becomes lost, it will be our collective loss as a society.

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