Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I very much appreciate the opportunity to raise this matter in the House. While I having nothing against the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Kelleher, I am very disappointed the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Mary Coughlan, is not present. The issue I wish to raise is serious and the Government is not addressing it in the manner it should, especially given that we should be retaining jobs in various sectors. I have no doubt the Minister of State is well aware of the matter I am raising because many of my colleagues have raised it before. I raise it because many people have asked me to make representations on their behalf, particularly those involved in the restaurant, hotel and security businesses.

In recent days, it has come to light that hotels, restaurants and security firms are being forced to close shop and let go employees. They do not want to have to do this. The current circumstances are extremely difficult and should not be allowed to obtain in view of the current economic climate, in which businesses are struggling to survive and in which every attempt is being made to reduce costs across the board. I call on the Minister to address immediately the problem and use her clout to make changes in this area.

Employment regulation orders were introduced some years ago and force the paying of workers double time on Sundays. There are a number of small restaurants in County Wexford in which the workers are quite happy with their current terms and conditions. However, NERA has been using bully-boy tactics to address issues in respect of the restaurants, sometimes at the busiest of times, such as when they are full on a Saturday night. NERA representatives force the managers to address what is happening. NERA was not set up to use bully-boy tactics where genuine people are doing genuine business and doing their best. It is totally impractical for NERA to continue with the bully-boy tactics it has shown in recent times. I urge the Minister of State to use his good offices to reverse what is happening in terms of how NERA is doing its job. In many instances NERA is acting against the wishes of employees, who have the foresight to recognise that any attempt to introduce wage increases in the current economic climate would be completely counter-productive and, ultimately, would be more likely to result in job losses than anything else.

The situation is completely at odds with what we are led to believe is current Government policy. Government officials are involved in protracted negotiations on the implementation of a pay freeze in the public sector, yet a Government agency is tasked with ensuring private sector employers meet obligations drawn up against the backdrop of a starkly different economic environment.

The catering and security industries are two sectors in particular where difficulties have come to light in the recent past. I have been given detailed examples of a security company's contract to a Government body, namely, the Health Service Executive, for the past three years. As part of the contract the security company must meet increases agreed by the joint labour committees. However, the HSE has written to the security firm in recent weeks to say it will not pay any increases in 2009, yet the security firm is expected to pay increases in 2009. The Minister of State is a very level-headed man and he will understand the difficulties involved for a company that is being forced by one arm of the Government to pay increases while another arm of the Government has stated its intention not to pay increases. I hope the Minister of State can understand the difficulty this business is experiencing. What will happen is the business in question will go to the wall because of the increases it is being forced to pay its employees.

The very same thing is happening in the catering industry. I am aware of many small restaurants in my county and elsewhere in the country that are being forced to close. Many hotels have been forced to close also because of the bully-boy tactics employed by NERA. I urge the Minister of State to use his good offices to change the regulations in place to reverse what is happening and to accept the common-sense approach these ordinary business people wish to adopt.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to convey the Tánaiste's apologies for being unable to address the House tonight. It is important at the outset to acknowledge on behalf of the Tánaiste and on my own behalf the difficulties facing small businesses in the current economic climate. However, we must balance that with the need to ensure the rights of workers are respected at all times. I do not think any of us would be comfortable with those rights being compromised, even in times of economic downturn.

Previously, Deputies from all sides of the House were tabling questions on why I was not honouring the commitments in Towards 2016 on the appointment of 90 labour inspectors. I note those questions are no longer tabled as frequently.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Government is not honouring the deal on pay now.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The Deputy should allow the Minister of State to conclude.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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By way of background, joint labour committees, JLCs, are statutory bodies established by the Labour Court under the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2004 to provide machinery for the fixing of statutory minimum rates of pay and conditions of employment in particular sectors. A JLC is composed of equal numbers of representatives of employers and workers in the sector and it meets regularly, under an independent chairman, to discuss and agree terms and conditions to apply to specified grades or categories of worker in the sector. When it reaches agreement on terms and conditions, the JLC publishes details and invites submissions. Following consideration of any submissions, the committee may make proposals to the Labour Court to make an employment regulation order, an ERO. The making of an ERO has the effect of making the pay rates and conditions contained in it legally enforceable. Various EROs have been developed on a sectoral and industry-wide basis, and each provide for different rates. In general, the EROs apply in the lower-paid sectors of the economy, for example, hairdressing and catering.

I am conscious of the difficulties being experienced currently by many firms operating in sectors covered by EROs. In recent months I have met representatives of employer organisations and I have heard at first hand of the difficulties with wage costs. I have consistently advised employers to make their concerns known through their representatives at the social partnership table and to pursue the issues actively through the established mechanism of the relevant joint labour committee.

In that context, I was pleased to welcome two timely initiatives by the social partners to tackle current competitiveness challenges in the hospitality sector. The social partners have agreed to establish a forum for the hotel sector to contribute to the development of a sustainable industry providing high quality employment. The forum consists of representatives of IBEC and the Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, on behalf of employers in the industry, and SIPTU. The forum will have regard to a wide range of employment and industrial relations issues arising from the current challenges facing the hotel sector, with priority attention to be given to the current difficulties cited by employers in the sector as a result of the operation of the JLC system, with particular reference to the payment of Sunday premia.

In recent years, the catering sector has been covered by two separate JLCs, one covering the Dublin region and the second the rest of the country. Over the years, each of the JLCs in the catering sector has agreed a set of terms and conditions to apply to the workers covered by its remit. In circumstances where both committees have operated independently of each other, the terms agreed by the two committees have differed in various respects. The social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, contained commitments for the modernisation of the joint labour committee system, including the amalgamation of certain committees. I am pleased to note, therefore, that agreement has been reached recently by the social partners to an amalgamation of the two JLCs. In advance of the amalgamation, the parties to the two JLCs have now agreed on a uniform set of terms and conditions to apply throughout the country, including pay rates and Sunday premia. I understand the parties intend to give effect to those uniform terms and conditions as soon as possible. Those welcome developments from the employer and trade union representatives in the hospitality sector demonstrate their responsiveness to the need to take account of the economic, commercial and employment circumstances in the sector.

Employment regulation orders, EROs, and a range of employment rights legislation, including primary law and registered employment agreements, are enforced by the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA. Against a backdrop of much disquiet about the inadequacy of the policing and enforcement of employment law standards nationally, NERA was established under the aegis of the Department in March 2007 in accordance with commitments set out in Towards 2016. That agreement promised to introduce a fully resourced employment compliance authority to monitor effectively and enforce established standards of employment law in the workplace.

Since its inception, NERA has been active in implementing its remit, seeking to foster and enforce a national culture of employment rights compliance in the State. In this regard, NERA undertakes a range of functions, including information, inspection, prosecution and enforcement. In the course of conducting inspections, NERA's inspectors continue to come across employers who have failed to pay their staff in line with the rates set down in legislation. When discovered, the inspectors are obliged to ensure employers who are not paying the correct rate adjust wages for workers in accordance with the rate established in the employment regulation order.

I acknowledge and am aware that colleagues in both Houses have expressed concerns that the findings of NERA's inspectors are presenting difficulties for small companies in certain sectors. I appreciate that for some employers, especially in these challenging economic times, payment of arrears may be a problem where wage rates have been out of kilter for some time. It is important to remember, however, that payment of the correct rate is, in effect, the law of the land and applies equally to everyone. If the rates were not enforced, it would be most unfair on those employers who are fully compliant and have been paying wages at the correct rate all along and it could be tantamount to unfair competition.

Everyone on this side of the House has been raising the issue of NERA and labour inspections. The fact is they are enforcing the law of the land. What I would say to JLCs and employer and employee representatives on joint industrial councils is that they should meet to discuss the issue and having reflected on matters, strike a rate of pay and conditions that reflects the commercial realities confronting business in these challenging times. I am sure the social partners represented on the JLCs and joint industrial councils will reach a consensus on that issue.