Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Is the Taoiseach aware of an initiative among the member states under the umbrella of the Party of European Socialists culminating in a petition to President Barroso about the trafficking of women into Germany in advance of the World Cup for the purposes of prostitution, degradation and so on? Will the Taoiseach lend the support of the Government to the initiative to cause member states to act as best as they can to prevent that practice?

I will ask the Taoiseach not about the position of his party colleagues in the European Parliament, but about the position of the Government on the services directive which is on the agenda for the summit. I will ask him not about the thousands of amendments but about the big issues. It seems that the Government's position has changed with the wind since this matter was first discussed. I presume the Taoiseach acknowledges that the Government must have been responsible for the briefing of elements of the media that sought to respond to the campaign about the defects in the services directive and, with few exceptions, were uniformly hostile to the demands for reform of the services directive.

Will the Government support dropping the country of origin principle in favour of the host country or country of destination? Will the Government support the exclusion of employment agencies from the services directive? Does the Taoiseach accept that had the country of origin principle stayed in the directive, it would have done untold damage here to small companies trying to compete and to Irish workers being required to compete with workers employed in the working conditions of the lower cost countries in the Union?

Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that employment agencies are part of the big problem in terms of displacement in industries such as the building and the meat industries? Last Saturday, I spoke with a young man who along with his friends had lost their jobs as painters with a particular subcontractor. They had been displaced by workers paid €3 an hour less than they were paid. When they went to the labour exchange, they found that the company did not exist and no social insurance or tax had been paid on their behalf. That young man hopes to emigrate to Australia because he says the abuse by employment agencies in the building industry is such that it leads to the type of displacement he experienced as a 24 year old.

Will the Government vote for the exclusion of employment agencies from the services directive at the summit? Will the Government reconsider its opposition to the temporary workers agency directive in Europe? It is unacceptable that unfortunate workers are landed here, do not work for an employer registered in this State but the employer buys their services and they are paid through an employment agency. The capacity for abuse is almost endless. It is important that the Government is seen to take a stand against that, in Europe.

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