Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

Unless this issue is clarified, agency workers could be deprived of their rights because of the complexity of the enforcement process. By specifying the end-user employer and agency as jointly and severally liable, employment tribunals would be allowed to determine where responsibility for breaches of regulation lay. The amendment is necessary to this end, whether it involves the end-user employer or the agency.

The unions have correctly pointed out that this would ensure that agency workers would always be able to establish their rights, which may not necessarily be the case unless the amendment is made, for example, where an agency or a user employer becomes insolvent or the contract for the supply of workers is outsourced through a chain of agencies, including some outside the jurisdiction. This clarity is needed for legal purposes to assist enforcement and to ensure agency worker rights are protected in this regard.

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