Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The Minister is correct in that my party is not of the view that restricting European Union accession state citizens to the labour market is the way to proceed.

Regarding sectoral agreements some of which he mentioned existed here in a certain capacity, would the Minister agree with my understanding, which is derived from discussions with people who are examining it, particularly the development of the services directive, that under European rules and regulations such agreements here have no teeth and no binding force, and that the concern is that if we go down the route of this continued development in terms of globalisation or of opening our markets, as we do not have such support structures we may well see a widespread lowering of wage rates? Has his Department examined how those sectoral agreements could have real force? When he gets that information from FÁS, would he send it to the representatives of the other parties here so we can have a broad, open and honest debate on the issue?

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