Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is worth noting that the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, and I have worked very hard to re-establish a registered employment agreement, REA, system that will be constitutionally and legislatively robust. We will be introducing the legislation very shortly. We have a joint labour committee system in place and work is ongoing on two particular sectors covered by JLCs, where I expect we will see some progress on a code and an order in the next few months. The REA system, for example, covered 70,000 to 80,000 workers, but that is no longer in place because of the McGowan judgment in 2013. What the United Kingdom does not have is a joint labour committee system, an REA system or a sectoral employment order system, which we are seeking to introduce by legislation here. When we are discussing issues around the living wage and employment conditions, we need to be mindful of this, in particular when comparing the situation in Ireland to that in the United Kingdom.

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