Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amends section 7(5)(d) of the Broadcasting Act as amended by the Bill. It provides that the commission may undertake strategic reviews of the sectors regulated by the commission in respect of the protection of workers' rights. I cannot accept the amendment for the following reasons: in the first instance, policy regarding employment rights is primarily the responsibility of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and is more appropriately dealt with in employment legislation. The amendment is also straying into matters that may be more appropriate to the functions of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. In particular, section 11(1) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 provides the WRC shall conduct reviews and monitor developments as respects workplace relations. I would be wary of any provision that might have the effect of duplicating the work of the commission. I understand the intention of the amendment. The protection of workers' rights is an important consideration in all sectors, including the sectors regulated by the Bill.

I acknowledge the concerns raised by the Senator regarding working conditions in the technology sector. Last May, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment heard evidence from trade union experts and content moderators regarding their working conditions. The evidence pointed to issues regarding the pay and conditions of content moderators and some of the dangers inherent in the practice of hiring employees through outsourcing firms. In particular, one of the witnesses, a former content moderator, set out the very difficult nature of the work involved and the types of distressing content she was required to view as part of the role. The Tánaiste also addressed the committee and stressed the duty of care that employers have towards employees to create a safe working environment. The Tánaiste also indicated to the Chair of the committee that he had written to a particular technology company about the terms and conditions of content moderators and indicated it would be on the agenda when he spoke to the company again.

It is important to stress the protection of workers' rights is not a core function of the Department or its agencies. It is important that our employment rights framework, which is the responsibility of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, places consistent rules and obligations on employers in all sectors of the economy. Moving responsibility for workers' rights to sectoral regulators would dilute the enforcement of the overarching framework and potentially lead to an inconsistent approach between sectors. In this regard, the role will of an coimisiún as an independent regulatory body is ultimately to enforce new and updated regulatory frameworks for content regulation across broadcasting, video on demand and designated online services. It is not intended to regulate employment relations or to assess working conditions. As a general principle in considering any amendment that might expand the functions of an coimisiún, I am conscious of not unduly expanding its scope to other areas of policy with the effect that its core functions might suffer or that it might duplicate the functions of other bodies in the State.