Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The purpose of section 3(2) is to comply with Article 9 of the directive which states that it shall be without prejudice to certain directives that deal, inter alia, with information and consultation to employees in certain situations, such as, for example, collective redundancies or transfer of undertakings in European works councils. It specifically states that this implementation must not lead to any regression in respect of the existing protection of workers in the areas to which it applies, that is, to information and consultation. Accordingly, any obligations to inform and consult under this directive are in addition to existing obligations in respect of information and consultation under other legislation.

The Industrial Relations Acts 2001 and 2004 provide for issues completely distinct from information and consultation. The legislation of 2001 and 2004 was enacted as a result of commitments made under the social partnership agreements. Hence, the point is that the nature of the legislation listed in section 3(2) is that which has an information and consultation element to it whereas the two additional Acts proposed by the Senator do not have an information and consultation content. I am advised that they are not relevant to this Bill.