Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

As part of the Government's commitment under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016, I am currently considering the final elements of proposals for the draft scheme of a Bill to regulate the employment agency sector. I intend to submit a memorandum to Government very shortly seeking approval to have the Bill drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government.

The Bill as drafted will reflect the commitment in Towards 2016 to a licensing system where, to be licensed, employment agencies will be required to comply with the terms of a statutory code of practice which will set out the practices and standards which employment agencies would be expected to follow. A monitoring and advisory committee will advise me on the code of practice and on other matters related to this sector of our economy. Other elements in the Bill are aimed at further strengthening and enhancing the effective enforcement of the employment rights of agency workers.

I am aware of suggestions that Ireland is one of only three EU member states which has failed to legislate for equal treatment for agency workers in terms of pay and conditions of employment. However, practice in respect of agency workers in other EU member states is not always what it might appear at first glance. The situation is far more complex than that portrayed and the various parties concerned have recently been advised of this position. A report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions seems to be the source of these assertions but detailed examination supplemented with contacts with officials from member states reveals a far more complex and varied pattern in individual member states.

Thus, in member states where legislation is complemented by collective agreements, deviation from the equal wage clause in legislation may be permitted. The current collective agreement concluded by the Netherlands is a case in point where pay parity need not necessarily be reached until the agency worker has been employed for 26 weeks. There is also wide variation in the nature and extent of employment rights attained by agency workers under the individual systems and in respect of the collective agreements that apply across individual member states, such as in the case of statutory sick pay and pension rights. In some member states, various restrictions and prohibitions are in place in which agency working is excluded from whole sectors of economic activity.

In the course of consultations on the proposed Bill, some parties have raised matters not included in the current partnership agreement, including pay parity from the commencement of employment. This demand is outside the scope of measures agreed in Towards 2016 and, in any case, does not have due regard to the complex arrangements in other member states.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Finally, I should point out that Ireland's comprehensive body of employment rights legislation provides that employee protection applies to migrant workers in Ireland and also to agency and posted workers who have entered into a contract of employment that provides for their being employed in the State or who work in the State under a contract of employment. This means that irrespective of nationality or place of residence, such persons have the same rights under employment rights legislation as Irish employees. Indeed, this is acknowledged by SIPTU which has included a full listing of such entitlements in an information leaflet on agency workers of June 2007.

With regard to enforcement, labour inspectors pursue allegations of worker mistreatment and when evidence of non-compliance with the relevant employment rights legislation is found, the inspectorate seeks redress for the individual or individuals concerned and, if appropriate, a prosecution is initiated. It should be noted also that in many cases employment rights legislation has provisions whereby workers who believe that they have been denied their entitlements or otherwise unfairly treated can take the matter before dispute-settling agencies such as the rights commissioner service, the Labour Court and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. I urge anyone who has evidence of the mistreatment of agency workers to furnish all the relevant details and any related materials to the inspectorate with a view to pursuing the matter.

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