Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On a personal level, I kind of feel sorry for the Minister of State because in all my time doing Commencement matters this is the shortest answer I have ever seen. In effect, he has no answer for me, which is extraordinary in circumstances where this has been highlighted for years by SIPTU. I will again reference Mr. Denis Sheridan, my colleague from SIPTU, who stated, "As a consequence of the inadequate transposition of the Directive, the new Irish law made it attractive for multi-national companies to move their legal base to Ireland, in order to avoid meeting their obligations under EU law." The point is this issue is being watched all over Europe. The enterprise committee meeting last week had a huge audience of trade unionists and employers' groups watching to see when the Government will actually take action. From the answer the Minister of State has been handed to read out today, it is very clear the Department still has nothing to say.

I will give the Minister of State one final opportunity. Will he please explain his reply in March when he, in effect, said there is nothing to see here and there is no problem with how we have transposed this directive? The Minister of State is wrong. The EU Commission has clearly said he is wrong. He should at least own up to that and tell us what he will do.