Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 165: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the likelihood of legal action against Ireland by the European Commission for breaching regulations governing the working time of employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37947/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Commission has indicated that it intends taking infringement proceedings against 23 of the 25 Member States for breaches of Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time. Ireland is in breach of the above Directive by virtue of the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the SIMAP and Jaeger cases which determined that "working time" includes time spent "on call" at the place of employment including, the rest time element of such "on call" time. The definition of "working time" in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, which transposed the above Directive into Irish law, does not provide that time spent "on call" in the place of employment is "working time".

The SIMAP and Jaeger rulings also determined that when an employee does not receive the 11 consecutive hours daily rest and 35 consecutive hours weekly rest stipulated in both the above Directive and in the 1997 Act, that equivalent "compensatory rest" should be provided immediately after the end of the working period. Ireland is out of line with this ruling in the sense that the relevant legislation provides for the granting of equivalent compensatory rest in an "adjacent time frame". However, given the political sensitivity of the Directive for Member States, particularly in relation to the provision of health care services, it is not yet clear as to how the EU Commission might approach Infringement Proceedings should they choose pursue this option.