Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 293: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason Ireland has not fulfilled its reporting obligations under the European Social Charter since 2004, as charged in recent public statements by the charter's supervisory committee, the European Committee on Social Rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7784/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Council of Europe's standard reporting procedures in respect of the revised Social Charter apply to all the contracting parties, which are the member states which have signed and ratified the charter. Ireland signed and ratified the revised Social Charter, which has 31 articles, on 4 November 2000. In preparing its reports, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has to consult internally and with most other Departments before it updates material on relevant legislative or administrative changes which impact on Ireland's implementation of the revised charter. Given the range of issues to be covered and the number of Departments to be consulted, it can be quite demanding to gather and clarify up-to-date responses on a wide range of topics with regard to the steady growth in other reporting obligations on all Departments. In light of the substantially increased reporting requirements under the revised Social Charter — 31 articles compared with 19 in the original 1961 charter — the Department undertook to review criticisms of the Irish response made by the European Committee of Social Rights, which examines in detail individual member states' reports on the implementation of the revised charter, and to consider how implementation might be made more effective.

As part of this process, officials from the Department met a delegation from the Council of Europe, including its secretariat and members of the European Committee of Social Rights, in Dublin on 4 October 2005. The delays in the submission of Ireland's second and third reports on its implementation of the revised Social Charter were discussed at the meeting. The Council of Europe delegation acknowledged that three of the articles in Ireland's second report had already been submitted to Strasbourg. As it had done some work on its third report, which updates Ireland's reporting on the nine core articles for the period ending 31 December 2004, the Department agreed with the representatives of the European Council to prioritise the completion of the third report before reverting to the completion of the second report. The reason for this approach is that the third report can be completed quickly because it is, in effect, an update of the first report on the nine core articles, which was submitted in May 2004. The Department expects to submit the third report within the next few weeks. It will complete the second report on the outstanding 21 articles as the relevant material is received from Departments and agencies and edited by the Department. Having due regard to other pressing demands, I expect that this process should be completed by the beginning of June. Accordingly, there is no question of information being withheld from the Council of Europe. The Department is determined to eliminate backlogs in reporting developments as soon as possible.

I consider that the revised Social Charter is being properly implemented by Ireland, having regard to its national legislation and administrative practices. Queries raised by the European Committee of Social Rights are being and will continue to be addressed as part of the reporting procedures laid down by the Council of Europe.