Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“at the start of a centenary of commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Lock-out, recognises the landmark struggle for workers' rights as a significant milestone in a decade that saw enormous convulsion in the emergence of an independent nation; recognises the positive transformation in living and working conditions in Ireland, most recently reflected in the UN Human Development Index that, for 2012, ranks Ireland 7th out of 187 countries and territories based on measures of a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living; further recognises the legislative changes introduced by this Government to protect workers' rights, especially the most vulnerable workers in our society, and in particular:-- to restore the cut in the national minimum wage, thereby reaffirming that a statutory minimum wage is a statement of core values, providing a threshold of decency under which society agrees that workers' wages should not fall; -- through the enactment of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012, to reinstate a legislative framework to support wage setting in sectors where workers are poorly organised and vulnerable; and -- to enact legislation (the Temporary Agency Workers Act 2012) to protect temporary agency workers through a legal framework in which agency workers are afforded equal treatment in respect of their basic working and employment conditions;acknowledges the Government's:-- commitment to providing for statutory wage setting mechanisms and, in this context, to conclude, as matter of urgency, its considerations of the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision relating to Registered Employment Agreements with a view to providing for a constitutionally robust legislative framework governing registered collective agreements; -- resolve to continue to develop the voluntarist system of industrial relations which has yielded great progress for workers over the years and, in particular, welcomes:-- the reform of the Employment Rights and Industrial Relations framework that is under way, and presented to this House, and aimed at establishing a world class workplace relations service which will promote better relations in the workplace and facilitate speedier and more effective resolution of disputes which arise and highest compliance with employment standards; and -- the completion, in May this year, of a phase of consultation with key stakeholders in the context of the Government's commitment in its Programme for Government to reform the current law on employees' right to engage in collective bargaining (the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001), so as to ensure compliance by the State with recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; and-- efforts to tackle unemployment and stabilise the employment rate through the twin strategies of Pathways to Work and the annual Action Plan for Jobs, which engages every Government Department in delivering on employment supporting actions and monitors their delivery on a quarterly basis; and notes that the private sector has added an additional two thousand jobs per month since the launch of the first Action Plan for Jobs in February 2012."- (Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

See this item in context