Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The areas that transferred from my Department to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection included the Low Pay Commission and the national minimum wage as well as lead responsibilities for EU policies around employment, social policy and engagement with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. If one thinks about employment policy, it covers a very broad range of areas across Government including taxation, innovation, education, skills needs, economic migration and enterprise supports. By moving the particular sections we moved, we are aligning employee based rights with the welfare to work agenda. It is a reasonable action to have taken and is very much in line with how other European countries deal with these issues. In the European Commission, these issues would be dealt with by the committee that deals with social protection as opposed to employment law. It is very much in line with what the stakeholders the Deputy speaks about would be used to at European level. There is very close engagement between the two Departments.

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