Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I am interested in the website mentioned by the Senator and the green card issue in that context. I agree also with what he said about Irish Ferries.

The Senator raised the question of extra resources for the labour inspectorate. That is one part of the whole aspect that needs to be dealt with but in the review I mentioned briefly there are many areas we must examine. For example, for the inspectorate to succeed on an issue it is examining it must establish proof at criminal law level. That is unhelpful. It places a burden on both parties and I would prefer if we could devise a method that enabled us to refer many of these cases to the Labour Court, the Labour Relations Commission or the Employment Appeals Tribunal. That is the appropriate level at which they should be dealt with and the system would be far more successful if we could do that. We are committed to providing extra resources, close to doubling the current number of labour inspectors, and I am sure there will be another increase following the social partnership talks if they get under way and succeed.

We are also examining the means for communicating information. The biggest difficulty, as the Senator and other Members will be aware, is the language barrier. We are addressing that by providing virtually every piece of legislation in a number of languages. I was looking at one yesterday which is now available in 18 languages. Most legislation is available in seven or eight languages, and others in 12. We are doing that on a gradual basis.

In the area of health and safety we have joint initiatives with, for example, the Construction Industry Federation on the provision of pictograms, which is understandable. I never worked on a building site but I am very impressed by the quality of them.

The Senator asked about the involvement of embassies. I have been in contact with many of them. Interestingly, in very few cases do they make the initial approach. Sometimes we have made the approaches because we read speculation or stories in the media about embassy concerns in regard to their nationals. We have told them clearly the actions we believe ought to be undertaken by people from their countries who come to Ireland. People tend not to recognise that this country is not cheap to live in or get accommodation. A great many of them come here assuming they can get a job immediately but that is not always the case. We have been encouraging the embassies to transmit useful information to their own people who may be thinking about coming here.

The Employment Permits Bill will be introduced in the House by the Minister, Deputy Martin. The Senator will be pleased to hear that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is on board in regard to these proposals. We have had fruitful meetings with the Department and in regard to the education element. The practice heretofore regarding employment law has been that FÁS undertakes that work and it is doing it successfully. It is an area that is relatively new to it.

Senator Hanafin mentioned the large number of employment rights in place and the peculiarity that we should have such difficulties in an era when we are close to full employment. In that regard we should remember that we created 93,000 jobs in the first year post-accession, many of which have gone to people outside the country. We ought not be surprised that we have teething problems which we are trying to address as effectively as possible. What we need from people who experience difficulties is, first, the information and, second, that they be supportive in terms of helping the Labour Inspectorate to meet the burden of proof. Sometimes that is not the case.

Senator Cox spoke in the main about the Recruitment Agency Federation and related issues, and the fact that the Act is from the early 1970s and is now dealing with a very different situation. Senators Cox and Leyden made the point that, as far as we are aware, all the difficulties, including the most high-profile cases, have arisen in situations where no Irish recruitment agency was involved. Nevertheless, this does not absolve the State from responsibility. Regardless of what agency is involved or where it is from, we must try to ensure the rights of workers are vindicated.

Senator Cox made the point strongly that exploitation is not facilitated by Irish recruitment agencies. Such reassurance is welcome. She also set out a list of costs, of which many of us were unaware, associated with recruitment. I accept her point on the services directive. It is something we will examine and our position will be made clear.

I strongly agree with Senator Quinn's point that legislation should only be in place when it is needed. There have been occasions, of which he gave an example, when the most well intentioned legislation had the opposite effect to that envisaged by its champions. Senator Quinn has frequently made the point that we are well advised to be aware of the climate in which foreign direct investment companies wish to operate and that we must try to facilitate them in this regard. We endeavour to do so to the greatest extent possible.

I was initially surprised to encounter many compliant employers who argue they are at a disadvantage unless all employers in their sector are similarly compliant. This did not seem so surprising when I had time to consider it. It is clear that in many areas there are companies that behave in a cavalier, sometimes entirely illegal fashion, and undercut their competitors, especially for Government contracts, in the construction sector in particular and across a range of areas. We must ensure that compliant companies are not placed at a disadvantage. This is a major challenge, far greater than it was five or ten years ago. It is one of the reasons the legislation we are discussing is needed.

Senator Quinn made the important point that we must ensure directives and legislation introduced at EU level do not make Europe less competitive. If I had time, I could tell the Senator some stories about a Council of Ministers meeting at which this issue should have been given more urgent attention. In the reviewed Lisbon Agenda, however, there is a welcome acknowledgement by European governments that this is a real concern. The revised agreement comes much closer to reflecting the needs of a global economy than was the case in the original text.

A major debate is ongoing about the national minimum wage. I take the view that the debate was conducted in 2000, primary legislation was enacted and it is my job to implement it. I recognise, however, that there are jobs which are not tenable at the minimum wage level, including perhaps the example to which Senator Quinn referred.

In the context of the employment rights group, I hope to achieve two aims. One of these is to streamline the bodies themselves. Equally important, I hope to introduce a corpus of consolidated legislation that will be easier to understand. It will not be possible to do this in one go, however. Some type of miscellaneous provisions Bill will be required that draws together various strands and eliminates the contradictory provisions in different legislation. It will be a major job, which will probably take some 18 months, but I have made the first step in securing Government approval for it. It can only proceed, however, in the context of a much clearer delineation between the Labour Relations Commission, Labour Court and Employment Appeals Tribunal. It is a worthwhile endeavour and will be greatly advantageous to employers and employees alike.

Senator Leyden made the important point that it is far better to conduct this type of debate in a cool climate rather than in a crisis. I mentioned earlier that in a crisis situation, much of the material that appears in public tends to be considerably at variance with the truth. This is what happened in the case of the periwinkle pickers. Senator Leyden also referred to recruitment agencies and progress in regard to the situation in An Post. In particular, he mentioned the type of situation that will pertain in regard to An Post in a liberalised market.

I have already dealt with the Employment Permits Bill 2005. We must take account of the types of resource pressures that some of the employment rights legislation places on industry and employers, as well as on Departments. This is an issue of considerable concern to me in regard to the long-term employed and the thankfully very small coterie of individuals who have difficulty accessing the workplace. Some of them may be disadvantaged to some extent in the context of the minimum wage in regard to the jobs mentioned by Senator Quinn. The best approach is to focus on training and retraining. In regard to disabled people, for example, we recently provided the wage supplement. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. We are in the business of helping people in terms of training and support and incentivising employers to recruit them. It is something to which we must direct considerably more energy than we have done heretofore.

In regard to employment agencies, we must acknowledge that there will be particular difficulties in trying to address the problems that arise with non-national employment agencies, particularly those that recruit people in countries outside the EU. In such circumstances, the agency effectively controls how those workers are employed in Ireland and has often already put them in debt prior to arrival. It is difficult to put in place a system and resources to enable us to get to the bottom of this type of situation. It is an area that will be difficult to deal with at national and even EU level.

Several Members referred to the displacement of workers that is happening in the context of globalisation. We must try to strike a balance in this regard. In the Irish Ferries case, we are grappling with a situation governed by international maritime law rather than Irish labour law. It is a case for which it will be difficult to devise a satisfactory resolution but we will continue to endeavour to do so. I very much regret that the company seems unprepared to recognise the Labour Court in any meaningful way.

That is an important issue but it is far more important that we address the issues within our own competence. We have a job of work to do in this regard. I welcome the input of Senators. They come from a variety of backgrounds and bring much common sense to debates such as this.