John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend him and the Department on their work. It is unusual that we should speak about employment rights at a time when labour shortages are evident, we have full employment and all the hallmarks of an advanced economy working within social partnership. Nevertheless, there are those who would flout the rules and try to retreat from their spirit or circumvent them entirely. I am thinking here of Gama, which will be before the courts. I also believe that the management of An Post has left behind the spirit of social partnership. Irish Ferries wishes to de-register and make many employees redundant, and that would of course be unacceptable.

I commend the Minister on his work in the Department and on the Employment Permits Bill 2005, which has been brought before the House. The Bill had two objectives. First, it puts in place a statutory framework that will implement an active, managed economic migration policy. The three pillars of this employment permit policy were to be green cards, an intracompany transfer scheme, and a revised work permits scheme. Second, it provides several new important protections for migrant workers in Ireland. The Minister has also brought before the House the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005, which transposed the EC directive on informing and consulting employees, which resulted from extensive negotiations at the European Council and Parliament. The directive sets out clear principles, while leaving much of the detail of implementation to national governments. Its aim is to establish minimum requirements regarding informing and consulting employees across the Union. For the first time, employers are obliged to establish arrangements for the provision of information and consultation to their employees.

The directive is an important EU intervention in national industrial relations systems. Much of the existing EU-inspired employment legislation relates to individual rights such as equal pay, health or safety. When it has had an impact on collective rights, EU law has done so in limited circumstances. The rationale behind the directive was based on the need to address perceived gaps in the existing legal framework for information and consultation.

We have also recently received clarification from the Department regarding the legal employment rights of construction workers. In that regard, it pointed out to those inquiring about the employment rights situation pertaining in the construction industry that only statutory minimum rates were enforceable in law. The officers of the labour inspectorate can only seek to ensure that relevant employees receive at least those specified rates and conditions. Accordingly, the highest rates of pay that could be enforced in respect of construction operatives under the terms of the register employment agreement were €7.36 per hour.

I am conscious of the fact that we have a minimum wage and excellent terms of employment for many workers. However, we must continue in that vein and ensure that employment rights are upheld. I commend the Minister and Department on their work.