Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

During the passage of the Bill through both Houses of the Oireachtas, the provisions providing for retrospection to 5 December 2011 have been the source of considerable debate. Section 1 as originally passed by the Dáil provided that with the exception of the provisions relating to offences or the instigation of legal proceedings, all other provisions of the Bill would be deemed to have come into effect on 5 December 2011. In light of the debate in both Houses and on further consideration of this issue with the Office of the Attorney General, the amendment to section 1 as proposed in subsection (3) restricts the application of retrospective cover to the basic working and employment conditions of agency workers to extend only to pay. As for the other non-pay elements that come within the basic working and employment conditions set down by the directive, such as working time, rest breaks and access to collective facilities and to job vacancies etc., I am advised that in practice, enforcement of these on a retrospective basis would be almost impossible as they cannot be undone after the event. I believe this amendment should go some way towards meeting concerns that were expressed previously about the intention to make the provisions of the Bill in their entirety, with the exception of the offence provisions, retrospective. I recommend the amendment to the House.

Subsection (2) of the amendment applies the general provisions of the Bill, such as section 2 on interpretation etc., on a retrospective basis. Subsection (4) provides that the offence provisions in the Bill will not come into effect until the day following the passage of the legislation. All the other provisions of the Bill will come into effect upon enactment of the Bill. I hope this measure, which balances the need for the Government to meet its directive obligations, also meets to a greater extent than heretofore the concerns expressed about this provision. This amendment will ensure that agency workers who are entitled to equal pay from the transposition date of the directive will have this entitlement backdated to 5 December 2011. However, they will not be able to claim entitlements from 5 December 2011 in respect of other aspects of basic working and employment conditions, including breaks, working time, collective facilities, etc.

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