Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

This is particularly the case as agency work can provide, in certain circumstances, a useful stepping stone for some persons to enter the labour market. The opportunities available to agency workers in Ireland should not be reduced as a result of any new arrangements. Any directive in this area ideally would provide a balance between, on the one hand, employment creation and flexibility and employment protection and security on the other. The Government will continue to adopt a constructive approach to these discussions at EU level.

Ireland supports the three objectives that the original proposal sought to address — to protect temporary workers; to recognise that temporary employment agencies exercise a legitimate role in the labour market and provide a suitable framework for the creation of jobs; and to review prohibitions and remove unwarranted restrictions.

See this speech in context