Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Let me be very clear about this. The national minimum wage is a statutory one which is fixed in a process in the Labour Court and which takes account of this country's unique partnership arrangement. It has been the case since the Labour Act 1946 that employers, the Government, as an employer, and the unions adhere to that. It is the law and it is illegal for anyone to breach that. There is now a very large inspectorate with strong legislation being very much enforced over the past few years to examine, investigate and prosecute cases like that.

As I said, I am not familiar with the latest issues around Irish Ferries. Is it operating as an Irish company? Is it an Irish company? From where is it operating? These are the issues the inspectorate will examine. What happened the last time was that it was using flags of convenience and was not operating as an Irish company. We do not have enforcement powers in regard to a company that is not Irish. We do not regulate the Spanish fishing fleet that comes into the south west of Cork. We do not enforce the rights of workers who arrive at docks in Dublin, Cork or elsewhere. We do not have jurisdiction over that. We have jurisdiction over, and can enforce, the Irish minimum wage, which is the highest minimum wage in Europe and the only one which is untaxable in the OECD. We do not have powers of enforcement in regard to non-Irish companies. We do not have that jurisdiction. Our laws are very clear in this regard.

On agency workers, I answered questions on this matter recently but I will do so again. The Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs, Deputy Billy Kelleher, answered questions here on this issue in December and on a number of other occasions last year. Our system of industrial relations is a voluntary one between the social partners and is fixed by cases in the Labour Court and the Labour Relations Commission. We deal with this in a voluntary way. If we change the system under any directive, it does not suit that system. We should not be beholden because in one case it is good but in another it is bad and sign up to any directive which takes away the implementation of how we conduct industrial relations. That is a very important issue. We have held this position for 62 years. I would oppose that system and that is what the argument in the debate is about. It is not that anyone is against it but it is to ensure that the participation in and the voluntarist nature of Irish industrial relations, which was enunciated in 1946 and which has worked quite effectively since then in good days and bad days, is maintained and that a diktat from a directive does not take away the voluntarist nature of it. Deputy Gilmore knows this better than most people. That is the issue. I think sensible proposals will be worked out between our social partners in this, but it should be the social partners who are involved. We should not be taken by what others believe is a good broad code for Europe as it does not take account of how we operate our system. That is a fundamental point of negotiation and we should not move away from that.

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