Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I previously raised here reports that workers on the Irish Ferries vessel running from Ireland to France are to be paid €4 per hour. It is not the only case of low pay that has been in the news in the past week. Last week, the Government was forced to concede in the High Court a case which has resulted in the striking down of the employment regulation order which sets the minimum wages and conditions for 25,000 workers in Irish hotels. This, in turn, has implications for approximately 250,000 people, most of them low-paid workers, working in various services who are covered by the joint labour committees.

We also know that over the past two years, there have been 296 detections of breaches of the minimum wage legislation. However, there has been only one prosecution. It appears that there has been an increase in the number of labour inspectors employed, which is welcome, but there has been a drop in the number of inspections carried out. There were 1,500 fewer inspections carried out last year, a drop of 9% on the number of labour inspections despite the increase in the number of inspectors. I understand that the number of inspectors who are employed in turn is now up to 50 but is significantly less than the 90 that was promised in the employment agreement.

Meanwhile, the Government is delaying bringing forward legislation to protect the rights of agency workers. An employment law compliance Bill was promised but has still not appeared. Ireland is one of three EU countries that continues to block the EU directive on temporary agency workers.

Will the Taoiseach tell us what the Government will do to protect the rights of workers, particularly low-paid workers, and to eradicate the continuing exploitation of low-paid workers in this well-off country with a prosperous economy? What investigation has been carried out into the reports of the payment of €4 per hour on the Irish Ferries vessel? What will the Government do to protect the pay and conditions of the 25,000 hotel workers who have now been exposed as a result of last week's High Court decision? When will the necessary legislation be brought before this House to provide adequate protection for workers on low pay?

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