Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 166: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures he is considering in conjunction with the Department of Finance and the Department of Education and Skills to counterbalance the negative impact of abolishing or changing joint labour committee wage agreements for students working part-time at weekends who rely on their current rates of pay to fund rental accommodation and student registration fees. [14265/11]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 168: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding the Duffy-Walsh report; the social partnerships with which he is having discussions; the persons involved; the lengths of time they have held these positions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14305/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 168 together.

On 24 May last, the Government decided to publish the Report of the Independent Review of Employment Regulation Orders and Registered Employment Agreement Wage Setting Mechanisms. The review is a commitment under the EU/IMF programme, which provided not only for agreement with the European Commission on the terms of reference but also for follow up discussions on the programme of actions arising.

The Report's overall finding that the basic framework of the current JLC/REA regulatory system requires radical overhaul so as to make it fairer and more responsive to changing economic circumstances and labour market conditions is consistent with the relevant commitment in the Programme for Government.

I am anxious to pursue the agenda for radical overhaul of the ERO/REA system as a matter of urgency, including proposals dealt with in the report and other issues raised by the report. To this end, I have set out an outline of my proposals for that agenda to the Social Partners, and these have already been the subject of discussion with the Construction Industry Federation, IBEC and ICTU. The membership of delegations from these representative bodies, as well as details of their tenure within these organisations, is a matter for the bodies themselves.

These discussions afforded me the opportunity to hear at first hand the views of the main representative bodies of employers and trade unions on how a meaningful and overdue reform might be implemented in these wage-setting mechanisms, which affect key sectors of our economy, in order to protect existing jobs and encourage employment growth.

In accordance with the terms of the EU/IMF programme, discussions have also taken place with the Commission Services in this regard.

It is my intention to complete discussions with relevant parties by Friday 10 June with a view to submitting a final action plan for consideration by Government before the end of the month.