Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for a thorough explanation of the Bill. Much work certainly has been done by the Department's officials.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Under previous governments it is likely a Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs would have steered the Bill through the House. However, such a distinctive and necessary portfolio no longer exists since March 2011, just as the Department of Labour ceased to exist in 1993. Both events occurred at a time when the Labour Party was entering government after a period in opposition. Is this connected or is it a coincidence? It appears the cause of labour has lost out at ministerial level. It is fair to say it also lost out in the Bill.

Before dealing with the substance of the Bill I register my great dissatisfaction at the speed with which it is going through the House. There is only one full sitting day between Second and Committee Stages in the House. In the other House there was five months between Second and Committee Stages, the Bill being introduced in January and Committee Stage taking place in June. While I do not want the Bill bogged down in this House for five months, more time would have been in order. On Committee Stage the Minister said the Bill would be brought to the Seanad on 18 July. Furthermore, the sponsoring Department, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, is introducing a Bill on Thursday. The Government needs to schedule the taking of legislation more efficiently. The issue of JLCs and registered employment agreements has generated much controversy and debate in the past two years, including between the partners in government. There was a remarkable campaign against the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation by Labour Party Members which was so sustained that it must have been organised rather than spontaneous. It was clear that the Minister's partners in government had no difficulty with there being an unprecedented campaign against him.

It is more than one year since the High Court made its judgment and rendered unconstitutional laws that had stood for 60 years. In the immediate aftermath of the decision Fianna Fáil published legislation to correct the situation. It would have provided for the amendment of the Industrial Relations Acts of 1946 and 1990 in order that the statutory mechanism for the fixing of remuneration by an employment regulation order would be consistent with the requirements of the Constitution. The Fianna Fáil proposals would also have decriminalised a failure on the part of an employer to comply with an employment regulation order, as recommended in the Duffy-Walsh report, and replaced the provision with a civil enforcement mechanism. If the Fianna Fáil Bill had been enacted, it would have enabled the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to make new employment regulation orders for all such workers under a new statutory mechanism that would take into account and rectify the failings of the 1946 and 1990 Acts.

The Fianna Fáil Party accepts the need for a Bill to deal with the High Court ruling last year that the JLC system was unconstitutional. However, the legislation introduced by the Government is seriously deficient and could undermine JLCs and employment regulation orders and leave workers in a vulnerable position. The concerns we expressed have not been addressed and there has been a failure on the part of the Government to maximise protection for workers.

We are having this debate at a time when the unemployment rate is 14.9%, the highest since the economic crisis began. Almost 20,000 more people signed on the live register in June alone. What is deeply worrying is that the number long-term unemployed continues to rise. There has been a 7% increase in the number of such claimants in the past 12 months. The latest quarterly household survey figures show that the long-term unemployed account for 60% of the total and the level of youth unemployment stands at 30%. I speak about tackling the scourge of unemployment, having started a business in 1986 for the sole purpose of creating employment. I experienced the recession in the 1980s and the ravages of unemployment and know what it does to human beings. In the article entitled, Lunch with the FT: Jean-Claude Trichet, in Saturday's edition of the Financial Times, Jean-Claude Trichet considered the question of how the European would get its economy straightened out and said it was all about competitiveness. I concur. We need a discussion about competitiveness and the people.