Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In concluding this debate I thank my colleague, Deputy Willie Penrose, for proposing the motion and Deputy Arthur Morgan for seconding it. I also thank his Sinn Féin colleagues for co-signing the motion with the Labour Party. I thank all the Members who contributed to the debate in which, it is fair to say, there has been broad agreement on the necessity for legislation to protect the rights of temporary agency workers. I compliment the trade union movement on campaigning on this issue and engaging with public representatives about it.

I understand very fully the nature of negotiations that trade unions enter with employers and Government and the nature of the negotiations that lead to a social partnership agreement. I believe strongly that the issues of pay, issues of the wide gaps which are opening up in the levels of reward that people get for work and issues relating to the exploitation of workers and the rights of workers are issues that are wider than those who directly participate in negotiations about pay, whether at local or national level. Those issues should increasingly be debated in this House. We have serious issues of inequality in our society, inequality and unfairness in the workplace and in the labour market that require to be publicly debated and the forum for that is this House.

We have made progress on this issue in the course of the past two days. When we returned to this House after Christmas, the promised legislation to give rights to agency workers had been relegated by the Government to division three in the legislative programme. I am pleased that as a result of the tabling of this motion over these two nights, the Government is now promising to bring forward that legislation to have it published and dealt with in this session, which is what I understood the Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs promised yesterday evening.

I express some caution on two fronts. First, there are many precedents for Government promising to bring forward legislation in the heat of debate during Private Members' motions and, when the heat of debate has died down and those who are interested in the issue have left the Visitors Gallery, the foot goes off the pedal and the legislation disappears on to the backburner. The second caution I express has to do with the small print in the Government amendment to the motion. The Government is proposing to introduce primary legislation "aimed at enhanced compliance and enforcement of employment rights generally, including legislation to regulate the operation of employment agencies and a statutory code of practice for employment agencies". That does not commit to what is required in the legislation, which is the principle of equal treatment being applied in respect of the employment of agency workers and a comprehensive provision for the enforcement of those rights.

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