Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The charter of fundamental rights represents a significant advance on workers' rights. Having the Lisbon treaty passed with the charter intact would also be a significant advance for them. If it does not pass it will be bad for workers. That principle must be articulated time and again because it is conveniently forgotten whenever we mention workers' rights. The Deputy is correct in suggesting that there is a domestic agenda, the legislation pertaining to compliance and the establishment of the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, the agency legislation, how a new legal edifice can be created to recover the position following the Ryanair judgment and several other items on which the social partners, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and her Minister for State Deputy Billy Kelleher are working.

The European Council issued a statement to the effect that it attached high importance to workers' rights and social services. The Commission brought in the European employers and trade unions too and is working on the implications of the Laval, Viking and Rüffert judgments for the mobility of workers in the European Union. It is examining, for example, the directive on postal workers. It is not clear whether that will be completed in time but it is on the way.

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