Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will remove the exemption of sea-going vessels from the transfer of undertakings legislation which protects employee rights and conditions and ensures the new employer retains them. [8566/07]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The mandatory provisions of the Transfer of Undertakings Directive (Directive 2001/23/EC) were transposed into Irish law by the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003.

Article 1(3) of the EU Directive provides that the Directive does not apply to seagoing vessels. However, Article 8 of the Directive permits individual Member States to introduce more favourable provisions than are contained in the Directive.

I am informed that the Department has not had any representations from the sectoral interests concerned in this area but would be happy to consider any issues raised in this context.

Questions arising in this area would, of course, also be appropriate for consideration in the context of the Review of the Transfer of Undertakings Directive which is currently being undertaken by the European Commission. Ireland has already indicated to the Commission that the question of the exclusion of seagoing vessels could usefully be considered in this context.