Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

As this issue was well ventilated on Committee Stage, I do not want to labour the point.

The Minister cites an instance in which a hirer did not co-operate with an agency, leaving it with a liability. The Bill makes it clear that the agency does not have a case against the hirer in such an instance. Until the Bill becomes law the hirer is under no legal obligation to co-operate with the agency. That is a non-argument.

I take the Minister's point about a derogation. Instead of trying to negotiate a derogation which he ultimately failed to do and waiting until the last minute to draft the Bill which has left us in the situation in which we find ourselves, the Department could have drafted the Bill several months ago, as the effect of the directive was well flagged. A one line section could have been added to the Bill if a derogation had been granted. That the Department was waiting for a derogation to be granted is no excuse for not drafting the Bill in time.

The Minister harps on about our EU obligations. Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Belgium, countries that have a better record of social legislation than Ireland, have not yet implemented the directive. What about their obligations? Do we have more obligations than these EU member states?

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