Cyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the introduction of the Bill. As we know, it aims to regulate employment agency services and provide for a new system of licensing of employment agencies. It seeks to reflect the modern labour market and further provides for the establishment of a statutory code of practice setting down standards for employment agencies and for the setting up of an advisory committee to oversee the sector in an advisory capacity. It also includes a provision for prosecutions in absentia in certain cases.

When we consider how drastically our employment sector has changed in recent years, with massive changes in standards, employment conditions and wages, the introduction of the Bill will ensure that agency workers, as they are now known - people who look for employment through and with the help of an agency - and the employers who employ those agency workers both get a fair deal. The Bill strikes a balance between the rights of workers and flexibility for employers.

There is a huge difference between the current position and that which obtained when this legislation first appeared in 2008. All sides of the industry, including those who are involved in the running of agencies, have for some time been trying to have regulation put in place whereby advantage is not taken of vulnerable workers. As we know, and I have seen this first hand in my own constituency, during the good years our construction, services, hotel, restaurant and bar industries were crying out for staff and could not get them quickly enough. As a country, we depended on young, vibrant workers coming from other countries, both within and outside the EU, in order for us to sustain our progress at that time. We trade in an increasingly global market and, during the good years, our economy depended on that labour supply to sustain it.

Given that the current legislation dates back to the Employment Agency Act 1971, the conditions imposed under that legislation are totally inadequate to cater for, first, the huge increase which has taken place in recent years and, second, the need to comply with current labour law requirements. We in Ireland are lucky to have one of the most progressive and strongest sets of labour laws and conditions in Europe. Over the years, there have been huge advances. I remember the introduction of equal rights for women workers in the late 1970s and early 1980s and, from that time, we have increased and improved the protection for workers throughout the employment system.

Under the current legislation, agency workers are in a position where neither the agency which accommodates them nor the hirer which takes them on for employment are considered to be the employers. That three-part relationship leaves the agency worker in a particularly vulnerable position. We have seen high profile cases where vulnerable workers, the vast majority of them from outside the country, have been unscrupulously taken advantage of by some employers. We have seen the results of these cases, some of which have ended up in the courts and, while action has been taken, the current legislation does not protect these workers enough.

It also does not protect employers who go to agencies seeking to take on people. They are also in a vulnerable position in the sense that because there is no regulation of this sector, they can find themselves, unwittingly or otherwise, a victim of the circumstances in which they take on an employee.

The Bill arises as a result of two factors. First, it results from the 2008 EU directive on temporary agency workers, which it is hoped will be transposed into Irish law by December 2011. Second, it results from a commitment given under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016, and from long negotiations between the Government, the trade unions, employers' representatives and the business sector. Widespread consultation was undertaken and all sides were given an opportunity to make an input into the Bill. As a result of this consultation, this legislation will afford equal rights to agency employees, comparable to those of permanent employees.

I have had first-hand experience of the significant effects on a person who is forced to leave his or her home country to find work. This has been the experience of our nation over many years. Many of our young people had to leave these shores when there were no employment opportunities for them here. They went all over the world and this has been part of Irish culture for many years. As a result, we are sympathetic to those people who come here and who have had to leave their roots and their families and take up employment in a foreign country. My own constituency is home to African, Chinese, Polish, Latvian and other European communities. These are very strong communities who do their utmost to protect their citizens as best they can. The onus is on us as a country to ensure they are treated properly.

At present, anyone can put up a sign outside his or her front door and neither qualifications nor experience in running an employment agency is required. This has resulted in advantage being taken of particularly vulnerable people. The Government must ensure that every measure is taken to protect people.

In 2009, a total of 615 agencies were based in Ireland catering for 35,000 workers and in 1997, the number was 4,000. This shows the changes in the past 15 or 20 years. The majority of the contracts were from one month to three months' duration. This is a transient market. There has been anecdotal evidence of agencies setting up overnight to supply agency workers to an employer and then closing down within a week. This legislation will ensure this situation will not continue.

The Bill proposes two categories of employment agency, the licensed agencies which are based and registered in Ireland and the recognised agencies which can be licensed and registered within the EEA area. These will be designated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Bill also introduces a series of offences applicable to agencies and individuals who supply agency workers and those who hire agency workers. This is fair treatment of that part of the industry as unscrupulous employers may take advantage of workers. I am aware of businesses in my own area whose total cohort of employees is composed of agency workers and whose whole business is based on the use of agency workers.

The Department will publish lists of recognised as well as prohibited agencies. An appeals mechanism will be available for those agencies included on the prohibited list. This list will be regularly updated and will be available on the Internet. This will allow everyone in the industry, employees, employers and agencies, to scrutinise the list to their satisfaction. I accept the existence of many established and well-managed employment agencies. Any agency operating within the regulations and guidelines has nothing to fear from this legislation.

A statutory code of practice will be established. There was some debate about this Bill during the consultation phase of the negotiations held under the auspices of the national agreement. A difference of opinion emerged as to whether this should be a voluntary or a statutory code of practice. This code will be recommended by an advisory committee of experienced and concerned individuals who will be experienced in the area of employment agencies and agency workers. This committee will advise the Minister on the details of the code and its enforcement and this is to be welcomed. The enforcement of the code of practice will be a job for NERA, a body which has proven success in this area. Penalties will include a fine of up to €250,000 or five years imprisonment which will ensure that this legislation will be taken seriously. The code of practice will be enforced and will ensure that flexibility for both sides, the agency workers and the employers, will mean that no unfair advantage is gained by one side.

Section 21 makes it an offence to charge a fee to a jobseeker for introductions or training. Anecdotal evidence exists of large fees being charged for very little service and this has been part of the problem in this sector. Companies have set up overnight, taken advantage of those applying for employment and have charged them large fees with nothing at the end of it. This Bill will ensure that this does not happen. Section 29 protects so-called whistleblowers or people who come across a problem in this area but who, for whatever reason, perhaps for fear of losing employment, might be afraid to go to the Garda Síochána or to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They may be afraid of being highlighted and stigmatised as a result of passing on any information about wrongdoing. This section will ensure that a third party will be available for anyone wishing to pass on information or who finds himself or herself in a position where they are unable to go to the employer or the agency.

This Bill was introduced at what was probably the height of the boom when the construction industry, the restaurant, bar and hotel trades and the services industry, were booming and a supply of labour was required to sustain this boom. The situation has changed drastically in the past year. The employment market is much slower now and jobs must be sustained for our whole population. We must ensure that no unscrupulous agency or employer takes advantage of people who have had to come to this country for employment.

The Bill strikes a balance between protecting potential workers and the need for flexibility for employers. I wish this timely Bill well as it goes through the House. While we find ourselves in a particularly difficult situation regarding employment, things will improve. We will return to circumstances in which we need to invite people to work, live and settle down in this country. I welcome anything we can do to protect such people and ensure they enjoy an equal standing under the law, particularly our employment law.

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