Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

That is fair enough. I hope some common sense applies to the point of whether agencies can train employees.

The preparation of the code of practice is a good idea. Will Deputies have a say? The advisory board will not involve Members but I presume the Minister of State is happy that the code of practice can come before the committee and it can sign off on it. As Deputies, we are invited to these meetings and people lobby us for changes. Deputies have useful input on this matter. Deputies and councillors should be on advisory committees and boards. We are elected to do a job for the people and although there is a danger of partisan politics, Deputies should be used more often on State boards and bodies. That would cut down costs because we are already paid to be here. We could do other work at the same time and broaden our job. That in itself would provide more scrutiny. This matter may be too minor but in principle I am not opposed to any politician of any party being used on State boards and organisations. That is what we are there for, to scrutinise. There is too much of a tendency to take politicians away from this.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has raised the issue that only the Minister can prosecute an offence, not NERA, the body set up to scrutinise abuse. Am I reading this correctly? The last item of legislation, the 1971 Act, was for a different purpose but very few people were prosecuted under that Act. In fact, nobody was prosecuted. That does not look good for the future if no one was prosecuted in 35 years. This addressed a different matter, where people were going from this country to work abroad, whereas this Bill addresses agency workers in this country. I would like to know who exactly can prosecute under this Bill. I do not see why it should be only the Minister.

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