Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

In addition, the Government have delivered a further range of measures in support of improved and enhanced employment standards arising from commitments agreed in Towards 2016. The Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundances and Related Matters) Act 2007 has been enacted and the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, has been established. It has commenced operations with significant management resources, and it will have a full complement of 90 labour inspectors, including ten with specific foreign language skills.

I would like to provide some context to today's debate by endeavouring to correctly site issues of concern which are an aspect of this debate. I propose to outline some key features and attributes of the temporary agency sector, including the main activities of the employment agency sector and the nature of employment and contractual arrangements in the sector.

Tentative data suggests temporary agency working comprises a relatively small subset of our total employment, perhaps as low as 2%. Agency workers operate across the full spectrum of our economy and are beyond the two sectors which are the focus of the Private Members' motion, which focuses solely on the construction and hotel sectors. Many sectors where temporary or agency workers are employed are in higher-paid parts of the economy where recruitment agencies successfully match and place workers in highly skilled jobs. These include finance, accountancy, information and computer technology and pharmaceuticals, where pay and conditions of employment are not an issue.

The matters before this House primarily concern the supply by an employment agency, as employer, of a temporary agency worker who is assigned to work under the control of an end-user enterprise. The discussion over temporary workers is at its most acute in the case of temporary agency workers, as this form of employment is uniquely differentiated and complicated by the triangular nature of the relationship between the worker, agency and end user.

The kernel of the matters under discussion relate to the potential exploitation of foreign agency workers in terms of their pay and conditions of employment compared to Irish nationals in the same sector of employment. Core concerns relate to employment agencies as employers who operate outside the State and assign workers to this jurisdiction. These concerns relate to the potential use of foreign agency workers — who would be better protected as permanent employees — by employers to circumnavigate the employment rights of such agency workers, or to allow employers evade their responsibilities.

Despite frequent assertions to the contrary, Ireland's comprehensive body of employment rights legislation provides that employee protection applies to migrant workers and agency workers in Ireland who have entered into a contract of employment that provides for him or her being employed in the State, or who works in the State under a contract of employment. I should be clear that this means irrespective of nationality or place of residence, such persons have the same rights under employment rights legislation as Irish employees. As I have already indicated, we vested migrant workers with the same rights as can be vindicated by Irish employees. This was acknowledged by SIPTU, which has included a full listing of such employment right entitlements in an information leaflet on agency workers from June 2007.

Our legislative framework is backed up with effective and strong new supports, where all workers, including migrant workers and foreign agency workers, can vindicate their rights with the dispute settlement machinery of the State. Again, under commitments in Towards 2016, we have committed to and delivered on core elements, including a major upgrading of resources in the labour inspectorate, having given it a decentralised and regional structure.

NERA is processing the last of its appointments to bring it to a full complement and when completed the resources of the labour inspectorate will have trebled to 90 inspectors, including ten with specialist language skills. NERA is now playing a very active, vital and substantive role in tackling potential abuses and will respond to breaches of employment rights legislation by seeking redress in the first instance and, where appropriate, prosecution. In this regard, as I have stated in my recent replies on this matter to this House, 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.

Employment rights, employment protection and concerns about the operation of some employment agencies was the subject of consideration at the most recent partnership discussions. This is in recognition of the need to review current legislation in this area, the Employment Agency Act 1971, which is now more than 30 years in place. During this period our employment market has been transformed, with substantial annual economic growth, which has fuelled a demand from employers for migrant workers to meet the needs of the manufacturing and services sectors of our economy.

Employment agencies have responded by developing their services to meet the needs of employers and potential employees. The Government accepts arrangements put in place several decades ago, under the 1971 Act, to regulate a much quieter and far less complex labour and recruitment market, need to be overhauled to meet the demands of a much larger and rapidly-changing employment environment.

We have seen the emergence of new forms of recruitment and employment that can pose problems in terms of customer protection and quality control. Recognising this, an initial review of the sector resulted in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment issuing a White Paper in June 2005 on the review of the Employment Agency Act 1971. The White Paper took account of a range of submissions received as part of a consultation process, including submissions from Irish Congress of Trade Unions, IBEC, the National Recruitment Federation and the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

The main problems reflected in the review related to agencies as employers rather than agencies as "matchmakers". In the main, they concerned agencies based outside the State but placing workers in this jurisdiction. It was acknowledged that any attempt to enforce an extra-territorial dimension in a statutory licensing framework would present a challenge, and it remains a challenge, not least in the context of obligations under the Single Market.

Subsequently, issues arising in this debate became subsumed into the broader social partnership discussions in early 2006 and formed part of the Government's commitments under Towards 2016. In this context, my colleague the Minister, Deputy Martin, and I are currently considering the final elements of proposals for the draft scheme of a Bill to regulate the employment agency sector. It will be presented for consideration by the Government very shortly, with a view to having the Bill drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel.

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. It is envisaged that a monitoring and advisory committee will advise on the code of practice and on other matters related to this sector of our economy. This committee would include representatives of the social partners. Other elements in the Bill are being finalised with a view to further strengthening and enhancing the effective enforcement of the employment rights of agency workers.

In the course of consultations on the proposed Bill, other matters were raised which were not agreed under Towards 2016, including pay parity from the commencement of employment. There have been strong assertions from trade unions that agency workers are being used increasingly to undermine basic labour standards and are precipitating a race to the bottom. However, the Department has not been provided with nor has it been able to find specific evidence supporting such assertions. I urge anybody with any information to bring it in.

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