Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important legislation and I compliment my colleague, Deputy O'Dea, on drafting it. The briefings prepared by the Labour and Fine Gael research offices on the Bill's contents and its alleged similarity with the 2009 Bill are incorrect. Only one section of this Bill is similar to part of the 2009 legislation.

Deputy Nash stated that, during the summer, Government Deputies will work on this issue collectively. There has not been much evidence to date of collective thinking, given the rush by numerous Labour Party Deputies to criticise the Minister, Deputy Bruton, via their press office. If they were so concerned about the inadequacy of this legislation, I am surprised by their support for it.

Following the 7 July High Court decision, the Minister gave a solemn commitment publicly and in his meetings with senior trade unionists that legislation would be introduced immediately to deal with this emergency issue, but it is another post-election Government commitment that will not be honoured. Deputy John Paul Phelan claimed the Minister had been working hard on this issue, but there is no evidence of such. No preparatory work on the High Court case's anticipated outcome seems to have been done.

Every Member has received e-mails, correspondence and telephone calls from all individuals across the country.

Thousands of low paid workers are concerned and fearful about this decision. This Bill was drafted to protect those workers. Government inaction on the issue is leaving low paid workers in a precarious position, as outlined to us in correspondence from many individuals; the trade unions went as far as describing the situation as devastating for workers.

The JLC system was established in 1946 when the late Seán Lemass was Minister for Industry and Commerce. In a total revamping of industrial relations legislation of the time, he established the committees. Not alone were they established to set wages, they were established to deal with conditions, another important issue.

The JLCs have been an important part of the industrial relations architecture since that period. With some revamping they set minimum rates of pay, terms and conditions for classes of workers operating in more than one trade. The individual JLCs are composed of employer and worker representatives, generally from representative organisations and trade unions, and an independent chairman. The JLCs propose minimum pay and conditions that are then drafted into employment regulation orders by the Labour Court, commonly referred to as EROs. Enforcement is not through the State industrial relations machinery but through the labour inspectorate in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The areas covered by the committees include hospitality, the food and retail sectors, clothing and contract cleaning. They were hugely important in many areas of the economy.

This emergency legislation is needed because the High Court ruled that the JLC system of setting wages was unconstitutional. As a result, workers whose remuneration was governed by employment regulation orders on or before 7 July no longer have the statutory benefits of those employment regulation orders. This Bill provides for the amendment of the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 and 1990 so the statutory mechanism in place for the fixing of remuneration by an employment regulation order is consistent with the requirements of Bunreacht na hÉireann. The Bill also decriminalises any failure on the part of an employer to comply with an ERO as recommended in the Duffy Walsh report.

If this Bill is enacted it will allow the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation to make new employment regulation orders in respect of all such workers under a new statutory mechanism that takes into account and rectifies the failings in the 1946 and 1990 Acts. It is important the case was taken by companies in the catering sector when it can apply to so many workers in different sectors. This is important to a huge number of workers, generally in the lower paid sectors of the economy, and I am glad to support this legislation.

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