Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

The previous Government responded quite quickly in respect of the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act and the Irish Ferries workers. Obviously, Ireland will play a very constructive role in any discussions that take place at European level and this has been well acknowledged in Europe.

In respect of agency workers, let us be under no illusions. People who have contracts in this country are protected by employment rights legislation. That is a fact. If a person comes into this country, is working and has a contract, he or she is entitled to the same protection in respect of employment rights as anybody else.

We must acknowledge that we have taken major steps in recent years to ensure we have strong compliance. We have increased the size of the labour inspectorate and are setting up the National Employment Rights Authority on a statutory basis. We have introduced many statutory legislative provisions over recent years. The increase in the number of labour inspectors is something of which we can be proud.

In the context of the overall issue, Towards 2016 is a fundamental document and we will live up to our commitments in it. In my reply to the question, I referred to the fact that there are quite complex arrangements in other European countries so it is not as simple as saying that Ireland, Great Britain and Hungary are out of step with the rest of the EU. Many other countries have collective systems in place and agency workers do not have access to full entitlements in some countries. In other member states, such workers are barred from taking up jobs in the civil service and the public sector.

Deputy Penrose is not comparing like with like and should analyse further the impact this could have on the Irish economy and our competitiveness. Some companies have seasonal work arrangements. We should acknowledge another very important factor, namely, our duty to represent agency workers. Not everybody has asked agency workers whether they are content with some of the arrangements in place in general.

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