Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On the last question, Deputy Ó Caoláin would acknowledge that I fought very hard to make sure the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is the main benchmark for probably the next 20 or 30 years, was part of the constitution treaty and by extension is now part of the arrangements for the reform treaty. This gives the protections for the future that are key to everybody's rights, workers included.

On the Deputy's particular question, we have brought an enormous number of people to work in this country in the past few years. A decade ago, the non-Irish, or the new Irish as I would rather say, made up 1.5% of the workforce. The figure is now just a whisker short of 15% at 14.8% on the latest CSO figures. There are tens and hundreds of thousands of workers but there have been very few reports from workers, the trade unions or anybody else. It is recognised both outside and inside the country that the abuses are less common than in other countries. Does this mean there are no abuses? Of course not. There are abuses, some of which happen in the likely areas where there would be abuse even if it were not of migrant workers. There will always be those who try to take short cuts.

To be fair to the trade union movement, it has been vigilant in putting forward a coherent argument that the existing legislation in these areas needed to be significantly updated and that we needed a new agency to do this. This has been done. The National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, is now in place on a non-statutory basis and the legislation in that regard will soon be passed by this House. Perhaps not every last line of that legislation is liked by the trade union movement but the broad thrust of what was agreed in Towards 2016 is being implemented in it. It is necessary so that anybody who thinks about abusing can be dealt with. The old legislation was not good enough because we are dealing with a very different situation whereby 15% and rising of the workforce are new Irish, which brings new challenges. It is also necessary to protect Irish workers who would be abused by the selfsame employers given half a chance. There would be nobody stronger than I in ensuring the conditions that have been set out in the various legislative measures or directives from Europe are dealt with.

On the question of negotiating these issues in European law, many of our rights have been part of what was negotiated in Europe and then brought into the directives. I am not suggesting Europe will continue to debate the directives. However, our voluntary system of collective negotiations has worked very well since 1946, and the involvement of a very active and vigilant trade union movement in the direct negotiations between employers, unions and the Government, as employers, has worked very well.

Whatever happens in Europe will happen and we will have to implement whatever directives are passed. This country has a good record with regard to implementing directives — it is one of the best of the 27 member states. However, the direct negotiations should take place between our own people. I would like to think that social partnership or, if not that, another form of negotiation — it was not always social partnership — should happen and the collective negotiations between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the employers and the Government of the day should continue. That is what has happened in this instance.

On the Lisbon strategy, while I know Deputy Ó Caoláin did not mean to say it, to correct him, it is not about competitiveness at the price of people.

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