Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will take the Deputy's questions in reverse order. We should all be proud of the fact that we have a very good national minimum wage in this county. We should be even more proud that this is the only country in the OECD to have a minimum wage that is high and keeps a large proportion of the workforce out of the tax net. No consideration whatever is being given to reducing the minimum wage.

On the Deputy's first point regarding the legal standing, the national employment rights authority is working on an interim basis. The employment law compliance Bill, when it is enacted, will establish a new employment rights authority. This is part of the legislation we are bringing forward in this area, which will compromise three Bills, to strengthen the law and make improvements that have been negotiated with the social partners as part of the national agreement.

On the employment agency regulation Bill, Deputy Ó Caoláin has correctly given the view of the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher. It is a view I expressed in reply to an earlier question. The purpose of the employment agency regulation Bill which is before the House is to regulate the employment agency sector by the establishment of a statutory code of practice setting out the standards for the sector and the establishment of a monetary agency committee. Representatives of the social partners, the employment agency sector and Departments will oversee adherence to a statutory code of practice. That is the intention. There has been a protracted consultation process, as the Minister said last week. The Ministers involved are considering certain proposals that have recently been submitted by the Department in the context of finalising the revised draft heads of the Bill. Parliamentary advice has been received from the Attorney General's office in regard to the extent of licensing of employment agencies, having regard to Article 40 of EU law and related matters. Hopefully, the Bill will be enacted during the course of the year.

The point I made earlier is that we have flexibilities and the voluntarist nature of industrial relations between employers and trade unions enables them to agree these issues in consultations. That gives us considerable benefits and flexibilities in gaining employment here, in attracting foreign direct investment and in helping indigenous Irish companies to do so. For us to slavishly follow what is a centralist approach, that is not in line with our industrial relations, is not the way to deal with these issues. It is better that we negotiate with our people who are involved in these issues. That gives us considerable advantages. Union leaders and the private sector understand that and it is the reason we manage to negotiate, whether in the craft industry, the manufacturing industry or the international services industries, and win. Quite frankly, from the time I was Minister for Labour, which is a long time ago, I have watched other countries try to get these binding agreements because they do not like what we have achieved in our voluntarist nature. I have seen this game for a quarter of a century. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, and others to continue to be wise to the fact that we have something that is good and that wins us a lot of investment and we should not change that. It is an advantage for us. However, that is not to condone exploitation, or those who abuse it or try to find a way around it. That is not the issue. Of course, I agree totally with all of what the Deputy and everybody else has said on that issue but we should not slavishly sign up to things that remove the kind of flexibilities and initiatives we have in place. It is not what our workforce wants.

As I said here last week, in the modern world from the time a product is dreamed up in a company to the time it hits the market place is 40 weeks. The lifespan of most of the products in the wide ICT area is 18 months. We must have a flexible system that can operate on that basis. To do otherwise would be to throw away a considerable advantage that wins us all of these things. I have no time for abusers or users or people who try to exploit others, whether Irish citizens or those who work here, and we will do anything we can in the law. That somebody comes up with a centralised view, does not mean we should throw away what we have carefully nurtured in this country since the labour Act of the 1940s.

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