Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 328: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will introduce legislation to regulate agency workers; the areas the legislation will cover; when he expects it to be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5016/08]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the regulation of employment agencies. The Employment Agency Act 1971 currently provides such regulation. 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 finalized, and I intend to submit to Government later this month a Memorandum seeking approval for the drafting of a Bill by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government.

The Bill as drafted will reflect the commitment, in Towards 2016, to a licensing system where, to be licensed, employment agencies will be required to comply with the terms of a Statutory Code of Practice which will set out the practices and standards which employment agencies would be expected to follow. A Monitoring and Advisory Committee will advise me on the Code of Practice and on other matters related to this sector of our economy. This Committee will include representatives of the Social Partners and of the Agency sector. Other elements in the Bill are aimed at further strengthening and enhancing the effective enforcement of the employment rights of agency workers.