Written answers

Tuesday, 15 November 2005

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Employment Rights

9:00 pm

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 355: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding which is available for the publication of literature to inform those coming here from abroad to work of their rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34157/05]

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The employment rights information unit, which is one of three business units that comprise the employment rights compliance section of the Department is responsible for the dissemination of information on the wide range of employment rights issues that are the remit of the Department. The other two units are the labour inspectorate and the administrative group that processes prosecution and enforcement cases.

The employment rights information unit has produced a range of materials, for example, information leaflets and booklets that provide a condensed and simplified version of the large corpus of employment rights legislation that is currently on the Statute Book. With particular regard for the needs of non-national employees, the Department has translated key employment tights information into nine languages and made this available in leaflet form and on the Department's website. The nine countries concerned are, The Czech Republic, China (Mandarin), Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Russia.

The material is available directly from the Department. However, with regard to non-national employees, the bulk of the material has been distributed through Comhairle, the citizens information network, the Garda immigration service and embassies.

In round figures, the employment rights information unit printed 130,000 booklets in 2004 and, to date in 2005 has placed orders for 98,000. The figures for leaflets are 71,000 in 2004 and a further 10,000 in 2005, arising from changes in the national minimum wage. The employment rights information unit handled in excess of 125,000 telephone calls in 2004 and, up to the end of October 2005, the number of calls handled was over 97,000.

As the Department operates a policy wherein the protections and entitlements set out in employment legislation are applicable to all employees engaged in the Irish economy, irrespective of nationality, there is no differentiation in the informational material produced to inform any worker or employer of their respective obligations, rights and entitlements. Accordingly, it is not possible to specifically identify the detail of expenditure being sought.

The Deputy may be interested to know that the Department is actively engaged in discussions with the social partners on a range of employment rights compliance issues and among the key topics is the dissemination of information on employment rights. The Department has tentative plans to invest significant resources in this area and intends engaging with a number of key stakeholders in this regard. The Department has already met with parties who have a distinct focus on the interests of migrant workers in Ireland.

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