Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

The Minister is welcome. I accept that the Bill is necessary to comply with the terms of the EU directive on agency workers. As drafted, however, it is anti-employer and anti-job creation. Small Irish businesses will be at a competitive disadvantage, given the failure of the Minister to find agreement between trade unions and employers on a derogation for a period from the provisions of the Bill. I fail to understand why this could not have happened before the Bill was introduced. In Britain a derogation for a 12 week period was agreed to, while much longer periods were agreed to in other countries. The Bill could cost up to 10,000 jobs as employers refuse to take on temporary workers. The Minister admitted in September that the lack of a derogation could cost jobs. This comes at a time when the level of unemployment continues to increase. The absence of a derogation will have a highly negative effect on employment creation and we will be at a competitive disadvantage compared to Northern Ireland in which there is a 12 week derogation period. This is one of the most important aspects of the Bill and I fail to understand why the Minister had not provided for a derogation in the Bill. It is vital that an amendment be inserted to allow for it.

The Minister has stated he received strong legal advice that the legislation should, on its enactment, have retrospective effect from 5 December 2011. In most Bills retrospection is not provided for. There are occasions on which we seek to have legislation made retrospective, but such requests are turned down by the Attorney General. Has the Minister received strong legal advice from the Attorney General or some other legal source? This is surprising, given my experience in the Department, because legislation with retrospective effect is always risky and open to challenge in the courts.

I presume the Minister has received many representations on the Bill. We have been lobbied by Mr. Brendan McGinty of IBEC who has sent us a detailed document on the topic. IBEC is concerned about the Bill and has stating Ireland has already been placed at a competitive disadvantage compared to Britain because ICTU has refused to agree to the introduction of a qualifying period for coverage under the Bill. In Britain agency workers must be in place for 12 weeks before they are covered by equal treatment provisions. In Ireland there is coverage from the first day of an assignment. This means employers will not want to take on short-term agency workers because the cost of paperwork and risk of litigation will be too great. I presume the Minister has received a detailed submission from IBEC and that he will consider the points raised by it in this regard on Committee Stage. He will have an opportunity before Committee Stage to consider amendments to allow a derogation. I fail to understand why it has not been provided for in the Bill. My colleague Senator Walsh will probably make this point also. It is the most essential aspect of the legislation that we not be at an unfair disadvantage compared to our friends and colleagues in Northern Ireland. On one island the legislation should be absolutely equal. I accept the Bill is based on the EU temporary agency workers directive which the Minister believes must be made retrospective; at this stage that aspect will not cause great difficulty.

There are 440,000 people unemployed. I commend the Minister for the announcement of jobs which he will accept were in the pipeline before he took office because such announcements take time to mature.