Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform following his notification to each Department on 22 December 2011 requesting them to put a mechanism to monitor compliance with employment law, including REA’s to establish the number of public contracts entered into since this notification in view of the fact that only 35 notifications have been provided to date; if he has put in place any mechanism to ensure that this requirement is followed up in practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56670/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The notification referred to by the Deputy relates specifically to public operations that have been outsourced. In this regard, the Public Service Agreement 2010 – 2014 established a mechanism to monitor compliance with employment law, including REAs, in operations which are the subject of outsourcing. My Department notified (Circular 15/2011) each Department on 22 December 2011 of these arrangements.

The Circular requires contracting authorities to notify NERA of contracts awarded where they relate to operations that are the subject of outsourcing, A dedicated email address (notification@employmentrights.ie) has been set up in this regard. I am informed by NERA that a total of 44 notifications have been received by them to date.

In relation to the general issue of employment law and its enforcement, these are matters for my colleague Mr Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) respectively. In this regard I understand that his reply (PQ 43392 - answered 22/11/12) given to a similar question outlines developments in this area.