Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason the Employment Agency Regulation Bill, which had been on the list of legislation due to be published prior to 30 January 2008, has not been produced and has dropped to the list of legislation for which heads have not been approved by the Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4058/08]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the concern expressed by Ireland's biggest union, SIPTU, at the growing use of labour agencies by employers as a substitute for directly recruiting staff; the steps he is taking to put procedures in place to ensure that such workers receive the full protection of labour law and are not subject to exploitation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4056/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 58 together.

Following a period of extensive consultation, proposals for an Employment Agency Regulation Bill which will modernise the regulation of the employment agency sector and which will repeal and replace the Employment Agency Act 1971, have now been finalised, and I intend to submit to Government later this month a Memorandum seeking approval for the drafting of the Bill by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.

My Department has engaged with ICTU regarding assertions that agency workers are being used increasingly to undermine basic labour standards and are precipitating a "race to the bottom". The Department would welcome specific evidence supporting this thesis and I would urge anyone who has information to forward it to the Department.

Ireland's comprehensive body of employment rights legislation provides that employee protection applies to agency workers in Ireland, including agency workers posted to Ireland, who have entered into a contract of employment that provides for him or her being employed in the State or who works in the State under a contract of employment. This means that, irrespective of nationality or place of residence, agency workers have the same rights under employment rights legislation as other employees. Indeed this is acknowledged by SIPTU which has included a full listing of such entitlements in an information leaflet on agency workers of June 2007.

With regard to enforcement, the National Employment Rights Authority and its Labour Inspectorate pursue allegations of worker mistreatment and when evidence of non-compliance with the relevant employment rights legislation is found, the Inspectorate seeks redress for the individual/s concerned and, if appropriate, a prosecution is initiated. It should be noted also that, in many cases, Employment Rights Legislation has provisions whereby workers who believe that they have been denied their entitlements, or otherwise unfairly treated, can take the matter before dispute settling agencies such as the Rights Commissioner Service, Labour Court and Employment Appeals Tribunal. I urge anyone who has specific evidence of the mistreatment of agency workers to furnish all the relevant details and any related materials to the Inspectorate with a view to pursuing the matter.