Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 416: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the international agreements that exist and have been signed, ratified and transcribed into Irish law seeking to prohibit the practice of child labour. [6398/07]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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In June 1998, Ireland supported the adoption by the International Labour Conference of a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This commits the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) 180 member states worldwide to respect the principles inherent in the core labour standards and to promote their universal application. The Declaration emphasises that all Member States of the ILO have an obligation to respect, promote and realise, in good faith and in accordance with the constitution of the ILO, the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions namely:

(a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

(b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;

(c) the effective abolition of child labour; and

(d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Ireland has ratified all seven ILO Conventions and core labour standards embodied within the Declaration. Ireland only ratifies an ILO Convention where we can accept every single provision and where our legislation is fully in conformity with the relevant Convention.

In June 1999, the International Labour Conference adopted Convention No. 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. Ireland registered its ratification of that Convention on 20th December 1999 and was the first European Union country to do so.

In addition to the international conventions on child labour which come within the ambit of the International Labour Office, I would also refer the Deputy to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which falls within the area of responsibility of my colleague, Brian Lenihan T.D., Minister for Children.