asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider introducing proposals for legislation to ensure that messenger boys will be (a) paid a decent wage; (b) supplied by their employers with protective clothing; (c) provided with carrier bicycles kept in good repair by the employers, and (d) safeguarded from having their carrier bicycles overloaded.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Conditions of Messenger Boys.
I do not think it necessary to introduce special legislation to achieve what the Deputy proposes. Machinery exists under the Industrial Relations Act, 1946, for the establishment of joint labour committees which may make regulations governing the wages and other conditions of employment of the workers concerned. Joint labour committees for messengers in the Cork City area and in Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire have been established.
These joint committees deal principally with conditions of employment and wages. I do not think they take into account the way messenger boys are dressed, the type of carrier bicycles with which they are supplied and the amount of load they are expected to carry.
I understand the joint committee deals with wages and conditions.