Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will and with the Chair's indulgence, I will not need them.

I start by thanking Deputies Ó Ríordáin, Nash and Sherlock for bringing forward this Private Member's Bill, which the Government is not opposing on Second Stage. The Government recognises the importance of tackling human rights issues, including human trafficking, exploitation and child labour, and considers that combating these issues is an important and fundamental part of the business and human rights agenda. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is active in fostering good corporate conduct, enhancing the reporting requirements of enterprise and ensuring that enterprise is held to account if engaged in or benefiting from harmful practices.

I wish to emphasise that much has happened in this area since the Private Member's Bill was first published in April 2021, in particular, with the publication of a number of EU legislative proposals intended to promote responsible business conduct in respect of environmental and human rights matters. These initiatives, when enforced, will address the policy intentions of the Bill.

Particularly relevant to this debate, as Deputy Nash earlier addressed, is the corporate sustainability reporting directive, referred to as the CSRD, which entered into force in January this year. Companies in scope will be required to report annually in their director's report on environmental social and governance, ESG, matters including with regard to human rights. The CSRD will harmonise the EU rules for ESG reporting by companies and put these on the same footing as financial reporting. It ensures that investors and other stakeholders have access to information to assess investment risks arising from climate change and other sustainability issues. Specifically under the social pillar of the directive, there are reporting requirements in respect of working conditions and other work-related rights including information regarding forced labour and child labour. While it is, in essence, a reporting directive, its impact will contribute to a more strategic and focused approach across companies on ESG matters and will bring greater transparency to companies' operations. The directive has phased implementation, with the largest companies in scope issuing their first reports in 2025.

Another significant initiative is the proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, referred to as CSDD. This proposal was published in early 2022 and is currently in trilogue negotiations at EU level. This proposal sets out the first EU-wide mandatory system of binding behavioural obligations for companies in respect of human rights and the environment. In-scope companies will be obliged to put in place due diligence policies and carry out measures to identify actual or potential adverse environmental and human rights impacts and prevent, mitigate and minimise the extent of such impacts within their own operations, subsidiaries and value chains. The CSDD proposals set out a broad range of environmental and human rights that companies are required to protect. Included among these are specific labour rights provisions that seek to prevent exploitation, human trafficking and the use of child labour. Companies that fail to prevent or mitigate adverse impacts from occurring within their value chains can be subject to civil liability claims.

I also wish to refer to the proposal for the regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market. This proposal was published in autumn 2022 as part of EU efforts to promote decent work worldwide and eliminate the problem of forced labour. It is a cross-cutting measure covering trade, customs and the Internal Market while aligning to international standards and other EU initiatives such as the CSDD proposal. The objective of the measures is to effectively prohibit the placing and making available on the Internal Market and export from the EU of products made with forced labour, including forced child labour. This includes products that are produced within and imported into the EU. The proposal provides for enterprises to carry out appropriate forced labour due diligence in accordance with the relevant European legislation and international standards to lower the risks of having forced labour in their operations and value chain. Negotiations on this proposal are currently under way at EU level.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has an ongoing commitment to promoting responsible business conduct. In this regard, a responsible business forum, a subgroup of the enterprise forum, has been set up to facilitate engagement between policymakers and businesses on existing and emerging proposals. The inaugural meeting of the forum, chaired by the Minister of State with responsibility for trade promotion and digital transformation, Deputy Calleary, was scheduled for 27 September 2023.

It should also be noted that there are long-standing provisions from the International Labour Organization, ILO, in this area. As part of its obligations as a member of the ILO, Ireland has ratified and implemented ILO conventions, including those which address trafficking and child labour. The effective abolition of child labour is one of the five principles under the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of 1998, which was revised in 2022 to include a safe and healthy working environment. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reports on the national implementation of these conventions to the ILO on three-yearly basis.

In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is collaborating with the Department of Foreign Affairs to develop a second national action plan on business and human rights. The plan will bring together the various initiatives being undertaken across a number of Departments to ensure that Ireland meets its domestic and international commitments in areas including workers’ rights and trafficking. At national level, my colleague, the Minister for Justice, has policy responsibility with regard to human trafficking and there are a number of relevant criminal justice legislative provisions in place in respect of human trafficking, including child trafficking. I understand that a third national action plan to prevent and combat human trafficking is close to finalisation and will be brought to Cabinet shortly by the Minister for Justice.

The forthcoming plan will build on the progress achieved under earlier plans and represents a whole-of-government response to tackling the crime of human trafficking. This plan envisages a victim-centred approach to tackling human trafficking generally and the creation of a revised national referral mechanism, NRM, to support victims of human trafficking to ensure that they receive the appropriate supports.

Before I conclude, I wish to emphasise the desirability of action at EU level to promote responsible business conduct and provide an effective basis protecting abuse. The Government considers that legislative initiatives in the areas of transparency and corporate accountability are best progressed, where possible, at EU level in recognition of the complex international nature of many value chains. This will also help to ensure harmonisation, promote policy coherence and avoid the risk of fragmentation within the EU Single Market.

Cross-border business activities, by their very nature, are not confined within political borders and are most effectively and impactfully addressed through multilateral co-operation and action, rather than individual legislative initiatives at member state level. The Government recognises the legitimate policy aims behind this initiative and as a result is not opposing the Bill. As is clear, however, the Government has greater ambition and looks forward to giving effect to the various EU initiatives, which have broader scope than the provisions contained in the Bill and have the potential to be a real game-changer in terms of enhancing responsible conduct my business. It is also important to emphasise the importance of any national initiatives not cutting across or interfering with the implementation of the aforementioned EU initiatives, and careful scrutiny will be required in this context should the Bill progress.

In conclusion, I commend Deputies Ó Ríordáin, Nash and Sherlock on the work they have undertaken on this Bill. The Government recognises the importance of ensuring good corporate conduct and increasing transparency regarding business activity but considers that those aims are best achieved with the implementation of legislative measures that are already in train.

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