Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Yes. As the report was adjudged to be ultra vires, pending adjudication by the Supreme Court, there was a legal deficiency. We are amending the legislation to grant broader powers to the Minister on these issues.

We issue work permits to employers in good faith. One must trust that people will honour the decision and behave accordingly. We are not satisfied with the information received from Gama Construction Ireland Limited. I am not satisfied with the long process in which we have been engaged, ensuring that Gama Construction Ireland Limited understood our way of dealing with matters. Early in our discussions, I realised that Gama Construction Ireland Limited was unaware of our labour relations machinery, such as the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

We have learned lessons from this episode. The advent of EU accession states moves the goalposts significantly. There is no longer a requirement to employ a large number of workers from any one company. Any company that wishes to locate in Ireland should seek to recruit from Ireland or the EU labour market. In 1999 we faced major skills shortages and there was an inflationary spiral in the construction sector. At that time, it was a reasonable proposition that companies would bring workers to Ireland to work on projects here as long as the companies obeyed the rules. One of the key results of our experience with Gama Construction Ireland Limited and a number of other experiences is the deliberation on the new social partnership agreement and the raft of legislation that will emanate from that. The inspectorate will expand to include 90 inspectors, the new compliance Bill will be published and a new compliance office will be created.

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