Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The need to protect vulnerable self-employed workers was often cited during previous debates on this Bill. As Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, I have a duty to ensure all workers, regardless of their situations, are protected by robust and transparent law. The Bill, as initiated, proposes to exempt people other than vulnerable self-employed workers from certain provisions of competition law. If it were enacted without amendment, it would result in higher costs for those to whom services are supplied by such workers, including consumers, businesses and the State.

The amendments I am proposing address the policy objectives of the Bill in a more targeted way, thereby minimising the potential negative costs on the Exchequer. They allow a trade union to apply to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to exempt a particular class of self-employed workers from the provisions of section 4 of the Competition Act 2002. The trade unions must provide evidence that their members are "false self-employed" or "fully dependent self-employed". Those categories are defined in the amendments. In addition, they must provide evidence that there would be no economic effect, or a minimal economic effect, on the market or on costs to the State and that the exemption, if granted, would be consistent with Irish and EU competition law. In defining a "false self-employed worker" or a "fully dependent self-employed worker", due consideration has been given to the European Court of Justice ruling in the Dutch musicians case and other International Labour Organization deliberations on this topic.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation may consult relevant Ministers or other people or bodies about any proposal to make an order to prescribe categories of self-employed workers for whom trade unions have applied for exemptions. The amendments allow the Minister to refuse an application or revoke an order if market conditions change, but not without due consultation with key stakeholders and full consideration of all the facts. As it is not appropriate for any ministerial order to be made time bound, the proposed amendment does not do so. I will endeavour to ensure all applications are considered in the shortest possible timeframe.

I am proposing the deletion of section 3 of the Bill, as initiated, which would allow the representative body of any profession to represent its self-employed members who are paid by the State, such as doctors providing health care for the State. This would, in effect, allow such professionals to set prices.Thus, the Bill as currently drafted would result in a big increase in the cost of services provided to the State by professionals, with obvious negative effects on the Exchequer.

Amendments Nos. 4 and 6 insert a new Schedule 4 into the Competition Act 2002, thus giving effect to a previous Government commitment under the social partnership agreement entitled Towards 2016 Review and Transitional Agreement 2008-2009 - Amendment of the Competition Act 2002.The new Schedule exempts those three activities outlined in the Towards 2016 commitment, namely, actors engaged as voice-over actors, musicians engaged as session musicians and journalists engaged as freelance journalists from section 4 of the Competition Act 2002. The exemption will come into effect when the Bill enters into force and an application for exemption will not be required for the three activities which I have listed in the Schedule.