Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position his Department has taken in European Union discussions on the services directive; the timetable for the approval of the directive at the Council of Ministers; and if the Government's position on amendments to the directive that come from the European Parliament will be made public in advance. [4122/06]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the Government's policy on the EU services directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4071/06]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the draft services directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4092/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 152, 185 and 187 together.

I set out the current position on this proposed directive comprehensively in the course of the recent Private Members' motion on the matter — I refer the Deputy to the Official Report of 25 and 26 January.

The European Parliament is scheduled to complete its first reading of the Commission's proposal later this month. The Parliament is expected to propose a number of amendments to the proposal. These will be taken into account by the European Commission, which may then bring forward a revised proposal for consideration by the Parliament and the Council of Ministers. In that event the Government will formulate its position on the Commission's amendments after full consultation with stakeholders. I am prepared to be as open as possible on the Government's position, bearing in mind however that a negotiation process is involved here.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 153: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he plans to take specific steps to transpose the posting of workers directive into Irish law; the reason no specific transposition measures have been adopted to date in 2006; his response to the observation of the European Commission that such an approach does not conform to the criteria established by the case law of the Court of Justice on the transposition of directives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4104/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Section 20 of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 transposed the posting of workers directive into Irish law. Section 20 provides that, for the avoidance of doubt, all employee protection legislation on the Statute Book in the State applies to posted workers within the meaning of the directive in the same way as it applies to Irish workers. Posted workers are workers who are sent to another country on a temporary basis by an employer.

The enactments that regulate the rights guaranteed to posted workers by Directive 96/71/EC include: Employment Agency Act 1971; Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004; Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996; Organisation of Working Time Act 1997; Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004; National Minimum Wage Act 2000; and Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

The collective agreements that regulate the rights that are required to be guaranteed to posted workers involved in construction or other related activity and that apply to such a worker posted to Ireland include: Registered Employment Agreement (Construction Industry Wages and Conditions of Employment) 2005; and Registered Employment Agreement (Construction Industry Pensions Assurance and Sick Pay) 2006.

I am satisfied that the directive has been fully transposed into Irish law by the existing legislation passed by the Oireachtas.