Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

While the stated objective of this Bill is to strengthen the regulation of employment agencies in line with the concerns of workers and the trade union movement, the context in which it is brought forward for consideration is one of mistrust owing to the manner in which the Government has dealt with the trade union movement, particularly in recent months. The same mistrust surrounds the Industrial Relations Bill 2009. There has been a significant shift in attitudes since that Bill was published and the resumption of the debate on it in this House last week. Much of that mistrust is based on the manner in which the Government is perceived to have rejected the proposals from the public sector unions in respect of proposed pay cuts for public sector workers and imposed measures which amount to a drastic reduction in wages across the public sector, including for the many public servants already on low wages.

I was surprised to hear when I met recently with the trade unions that 49% of public sector workers earn below the average industrial wage. These people have been severely hit by the measures pushed through by this Government. Suspicion has not been lessened by the Government's intention to amend the industrial relations legislation to allow employers renege on pay agreements on the basis of inability to pay. More important - this relates directly to the type of workers intended to be covered by the Employment Agency Regulation Bill 2009 - the amendments will allow employers to pay less than the statutory minimum wage and the minimum rates set in traditionally low wage sectors by employment regulation orders. It will also allow for the undermining of registered employment agreements in other sectors.

If this attack on the minimum wage and wage levels in general is successful it will lead to a complete reversal of measures designed to protect the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers in the economy. The Government's decision to press ahead with the amendments, with its attitude towards the public sector unions, signals it has abandoned social partnership and is now fully on board with the agenda of the employers' organisations, who are attempting to slash wages. This is the context in which we must view this Bill. It is the reason even its positive provisions are being viewed with suspicion.

The positive protections included in this Bill will be meaningless in a situation where agency workers are taken on by employers who have already been sanctioned to pay below the minimum wage. This sets up an extremely dangerous situation for the future, one in which we could and, indeed, will see, if the inability to pay amendments are carried, the creation of a new layer of low paid workers here from other countries while the current high level of unemployment for Irish workers remains as is or increases. If wage levels are driven down to where employers want them to be, domestic unemployment will increase as Irish workers are replaced by low paid agency workers from other countries. In that situation, none of the protections that exist will be worth the paper on which they are written, as we have already witnessed in terms of the manner in which the Government has turned its back on negotiations with the public sector unions and the manner in which some employers have already reneged on pay agreements that had the backing of the Labour Court. Currently, a worker is on hunger strike in Naas.

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