Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for this question on an issue that he has raised consistently here and during our time on the finance committee together. As he knows, Ireland has a comprehensive body of employment, equality and industrial relations legislation, which offers the same protections to all employees legally employed under a contract of employment. All employers, regardless of sector, are responsible for ensuring that their employees receive all the protections afforded them under employment legislation.

The Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 transposes EU Directive 1999/70/EC concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work into Irish law. The Act provides for the improvement of the quality of fixed-term work by ensuring the application of the principle of non-discrimination, that is, that fixed-term workers may not be treated less favourably than comparable permanent workers. The Act also provides for the establishment of a framework to prevent abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts. If an employee has worked on two or more fixed term contracts, the combined duration of the contracts is limited to a maximum of four years. After this, if the employer wishes the employee to continue in its employ, that is deemed to be on the basis of a contract of indefinite duration unless the employer has objective grounds for renewing the contract of employment again on a fixed-term basis. Section 9(5) of the Act provides that the First Schedule to the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2001 applies for the purpose of ascertaining the period of service of an employee and whether that service has been continuous. The European Commission has confirmed that Ireland has fully and faithfully transposed the directive.

The requirement to adhere to employment rights legislation is now part of the certification process to receive the section 481 film tax credit. An applicant company must submit an undertaking of compliance with all relevant employment legislation in respect of the film being certified. These conditions must be met, not only by the producer company, but also by the designated activity company, DAC, that is required to be set up to avail of the section 481 tax credit.

If a fixed-term employee feels that, as regards any conditions of employment, he or she is being treated less favourably than a comparable permanent employee or considers that he or she is entitled to a contract of indefinite duration and his or her employer refuses to provide this, it is open to that employee to bring a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission.

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