Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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257. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to report on the drafting of legislation to remove the blanket exclusion of members of the Defence Forces from the protections of the Working Time Directive; the timeframe in which he intends to publish the Heads of Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36915/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (OWTA), which transposes the EU Working Time Directive into Irish Law, sets out minimum rest and maximum working time for employees as well as holidays and other miscellaneous issues. The Defence Forces are currently excluded from the provisions of the OWTA in its entirety. My Department’s objective is to develop the appropriate legislative mechanism to bring the Defence Forces within the scope of the OWTA as soon as possible.

Officials in my Department have been actively engaged with their counterparts in the Department of Defence who have policy responsibility in this area, to ensure that the Defence Forces can continue to fulfil their essential state functions once they are under the ambit of the OWTA. Department officials are also engaging with the Office of the Attorney General on this matter.

It should be noted that the drafting of legislation, especially on such an important area, can be complex and it is therefore it is difficult to give a definitive timeline for publication. However, I would like to assure the Deputy that this is a priority for my Department and work is underway to draft the legislation as efficiently as possible.