Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gavan for his words and all colleagues across the floor and on both sides of the House for their support of this Bill. It took support from all sides to ensure it would reach Report Stage in Government time. It is historic because not many Private Members’ Bills have traditionally become law so we very much look forward to this becoming law and welcome the support of all colleagues. I should say that this, of course, stems from a long-standing Labour Party commitment. When we introduced it on Second Stage, my colleague, Senator Nash, as a junior Minister had a large part to play in its acceptance on Second Stage by the Government. I thank the Minister for continuing support for it and bringing it through Report Stage in Government time.

We support the amendments proposed by the Minister, which will provide for a new process for two groups of vulnerable self-employed workers to achieve exemption through application by their trade union to the Minister. The first category is the false self-employed work; this is somebody who is described as self-employed but who is in all but name an employee. This is the category of worker in respect of whom the European Court of Justice had previously ruled in the FNV Kunsten Informatie en Media case, relating to session musicians in a Dutch orchestra. In that case, very helpfully, the court set out a list of criteria by which somebody who is described as self-employed may be considered to be falsely self-employed, or in reality an employee. These are the criteria set out in the Minister's proposed amendment. We very much support that.

There is a second category of worker in respect of whom trades union will be able to apply for exemption to the Minister. These are people who are not necessarily captured by the false self-employed category and we were very conscious that many of the people who came to us, such as freelance journalists, would not come under the Kunsten case but would rather be better regarded as fully dependent self-employed workers. We are grateful to the Minister and her officials for working hard on this and the drafting of that was perhaps more difficult because there was not a clear set of criteria set out in a court judgment. It is helpful to know it derives from ILO sources and we can see other countries, like Germany, where there is a similar sort of provision in place for somebody who might be described as self-employed but is fully dependent on perhaps one or two person for the vast bulk of their income. As the Minister's amendment indicates, their main income in respect of the performance of their services under contract is derived from not more than two persons. That will capture a large number of people who have been really disadvantaged by the Competition Authority ruling.

Finally, the Bill will also provide a welcome automatic exemption for a third category of self-employed worker, the three groups who were previously specifically mentioned the Partnership 2016 programme and who will now be listed in the Schedule to the Competition Act as automatically exempt. Those are voice-over actors, session musicians and freelance journalists. We very much welcome that automatic exemption.

I will finish with three points on the amendments. I am grateful to the Minister for outlining her intention to ensure applications are dealt with speedily. I raised with the officials the issue of a set timeframe for decision making. We and the unions would anticipate that although the timeframe is not specified, the Minister would always act expeditiously and speedily in coming to a decision and applying the criteria. I know the Bill anticipates that the Minister will allow for the application to be made. For example, there may be guidance as to timing set out in that, which would be very helpful for unions in making applications to the Minister for an exemption.

The second point is I understand there is no prohibition on reapplication by a trade union in respect of a class of a relevant category of self-employed worker where, for example, some conditions have changed or a new group of individuals have come into membership of a union and so on. I am sure the Minister will confirm there is nothing in the Bill to prevent a union from reapplying. The third point is the timeframe for the Bill's passage into law, and I am very glad to see it will be dealt with in amendment No. 5, with the Act coming into operation no later than three months after the date of its passing. That is a comfort to the unions and all those who have been engaged in this campaign for so long. We hope it will speed through the Dáil and I am glad to see a commitment that it will be brought into operation no later than three months after the date of its passing. We have no difficulty with the deletion of section 3 from our original Bill, as I made clear on Committee Stage.