Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I am sharing time with Deputy Gilmore, with the permission of the House.

On behalf of Sinn Féin I want to thank everyone who has participated in this debate, particularly those who have spoken in support of the motion, who will vote for it here this evening. This is an historic motion and debate, as it is the first such jointly tabled by the Labour Party and Sinn Féin in the Oireachtas. More important, it is a statement of intent that exploitation will not be tolerated. It is an act of solidarity with those workers who are being abused and the trade union movement which represents them.

The Government has refused to acknowledge the gravity of the issue we are raising. It has refused to accept the extent of the problems, despite mounting evidence and the specific testimonies gathered by the trade union movement. When Ministers exhibit such ignorance of the issue, is it any wonder it is not being dealt with? The Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs, in particular, has attempted to confuse the issue and give the misleading impression that agency workers have access to rights and entitlements, which they clearly do not. The Minister of State tried to sow further confusion by stating last evening that migrant workers have the same protection in legislation as Irish nationals. That is not the issue. Agency workers, whatever their nationality, are being denied the full protection of labour law.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, has no evidence that the exploitation of agency workers is precipitating a race to the bottom in terms of pay and conditions. I can only ask what planet they are all living on because this is happening all over Ireland, and sadly, all over Europe. The trade union movement is united in demanding that the Government legislates for the principle of equal treatment of agency workers. Outside the Dáil, the leaders of the largest unions in the country, including SIPTU, Unite, IMPACT and Mandate, gathered to demand that Government Deputies demonstrate their concern for workers' rights by supporting this motion from Sinn Féin and the Labour Party. These unions and their members have identified a significant growth in the use of employment agencies across the economy, particularly in unskilled and low skilled sectors. All the evidence suggests that the 2% figure which the Minister quoted as the percentage of the workforce who are agency workers, is a serious underestimation. These figures are a number of years out of date. It is likely that there has been an increase similar to that in Britain, where the TUC did a report in 2006 which found that the figures in Britain had risen from 2.6% in 2002 to 5% in 2006.

Exploitation of agency workers is a particular problem in the construction sector, in hotels and services, retail distribution, transport and logistics, food processing and the meat and mushroom sectors. However, I want to put on record this evening my welcome of the recent initiative by Monaghan Mushrooms that deserves to be both recognised and applauded.

The Minister asks where is the evidence. In 2002 a report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions found that temporary agency workers earned only 68% of the wages of their directly employed colleagues. They had less entitlement and control over the work they do than directly employed counterparts. This is not about the country of origin of workers, it must be emphasised. It is about agency workers versus directly employed workers, full stop, end of story. That was clearly missed by the Minister of State's contribution last evening and that of the Minister, Deputy Martin. as clearly evidenced in the amendment tabled to the motion jointly presented by Labour and Sinn Féin for discussion. The Government cannot, in all seriousness, expect the trade union movement to enter a new round of social partnership negotiations while this issue remains unaddressed nor should unions be forced to bargain in order to have this issue addressed.

Recognising the short time I have left, we are demanding legislation on agency workers, and its content is crucial. The Government says it will bring forward legislation to address the concerns during the course of this debate, but if the Government thinks it can get away with bringing in legislation that deals with this issue in a half-hearted way, it is deeply mistaken. The Taoiseach and his Ministers, from listening to their contributions last night, are, like their leader in Government, masters of mutter when it comes to confusing the issues. It is well known that they have been blocking progress on agency workers at EU level, yet they pretend they are part of a search for a consensus. They clearly have no wish to confront exploitative employers, especially in the construction sector, but their foot-dragging penalises agency workers and their families. It allows the scourge of exploitation to spread in our economy and it penalises good employers who provide decent wages and conditions.

Workers and trade unions and progressive elected representatives of the Labour and Sinn Féin parties and others, I hope, who will join us here this evening, are not prepared to drop this issue. We will pursue this Government until it is forced to relent and to vindicate the right of all agency workers without exception.

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