Alex White (Labour)

I refer to the contribution by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, which lists at least five or six reasons. He referred to the reason the Irish Government did not support the EU directive on temporary agency work. He spoke a nonsense about the fact there are different industrial regimes across Europe, something we all know is the case. Everyone knows there is a long history of collective agreements at national level in Germany and other European countries. This is not a new discovery. There is employment legislation going back 30 years which applies in equal measure across the European Union in circumstances where different employment law and industrial relations regimes are in existence in those countries, such as the fixed-term work legislation and the equality directives. Much legislation and many directives that have been introduced and implemented in different member states are implemented in countries that have different regimes and different industrial relations regimes. The Minister of State's argument is a nonsense and an excuse.