Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Providing support for vulnerable workers is of central concern to the Government. The development of European policy and practice reflected in the Union's legislation has been hugely positive for workers in Europe, including Irish workers. To take but one example, this is reinforced by the adoption of the directive on temporary agency work. This measure continues the long established pattern of significant and effective protection for workers being reinforced by and, in many instances, originating with European initiatives. It is that tradition and its continued potential which was reflected in the decisions of the executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the European Trade Union Confederation to support the Lisbon treaty. As I said earlier, through the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the draft treaty represents a significant advance in the articulation of workers' rights, not least in respect of the operation of collective bargaining.

Regarding the ECJ judgments to which Deputy Gilmore referred, the particular issues raised in, for example, the Laval and Viking cases relate to the specific social partnership and collective bargaining context which exists in Scandinavian countries. Therefore, the judgments are case-specific. Our legal advice is that there are no particular implications arising from the ECJ judgments in these cases for Ireland, with the particular arrangements in place as part of the Irish industrial relations system. We have a strong body of employment rights legislation which protects workers, including posted workers — that is posted from another EU member state — who have the same rights as Irish workers under Irish law. It is important to note that the transitional agreement, which was recently ratified by IBEC and ICTU, will serve to bolster and enhance our body of employment rights legislation. That said, the Government has made the case to our European counterparts that these ECJ judgments should be discussed among the social partners at EU level. In this context, we welcome the fact that the European Commission, backed by the Troika of French, Swedish and Czech Presidencies, has asked the EU social partners, as part of their work programme in 2009, to undertake an analysis of the balance between workers' rights and competitiveness issues, having particular regard to the ECJ rulings. In the time available to us, we will continue to use that process to the greatest extent we possibly can, as a means of bringing the necessary clarity and orientation to that debate, which will provide reassurance to those who may continue to have concerns in this area. We would also be glad to apprise party leaders in the House, particularly those who support the treaty, of our efforts to go ahead with the envisaged detailed work arising out of the conclusions and to listen to and see in what way we can accommodate the ideas or proposals of others as part of a collective effort as comprehensively as possible.

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