Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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14. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on the aim to increase the current collective bargaining coverage level of only 30% to the level of 70% threshold stated within the European Commission proposed directive; and if he will withdraw his objection to the use of a directive as a mechanism to achieve that objective. [7015/22]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I and Government support increasing collective bargaining coverage in Ireland. That is one of the reasons the independently chaired High-Level Working Group on Collective Bargaining was established under the auspices of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) in March of last year.

The forthcoming EU Directive on the Minimum Wage is one of the issues which the Group is considering as part of its work, along with the adequacy of the existing workplace relations framework, the issue of trade union recognition and the current statutory wage setting mechanisms. The EU Directive is still under negotiation and is not expected to be finalised for some time.

As the Deputy will be aware, in its current draft, the EU Directive on the Minimum Wage stipulates that Member States are required to act to promote the capacity of social partners to engage in collective bargaining on wage setting, and to encourage constructive, meaningful and informed negotiations on wages.

Moreover, the Directive requires that Member States, where collective bargaining coverage does not reach at least 70% of the workers, provide for a framework for collective bargaining and establish an action plan to promote collective bargaining.

The High-Level Group on Collective Bargaining is already considering how best to achieve this objective within the context of our voluntarist approach to industrial relations and respecting the autonomy of the social partners.

It is worth stating that this work builds on an existing and extensive range of robust statutory provisions designed to back up the voluntary bargaining process in Ireland.

It is also important to emphasise that - whilst the Government is not committed in advance to any particular outcome from this Group - ensuring fair wages and safe workplaces in Ireland remains a clear priority of mine.