asked the Minister for Labour whether any consideration is being given to this country's signing the Convention on Equal Pay for Equal Work prior to accession to the EEC.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Equal Pay for Equal Work.
52.
I assume the Deputy is referring to International Labour Organisation Equal Remuneration Convention, No. 100, and would refer him to replies to previous questions relating to this convention, the latest being my reply to a question by Deputy Desmond on 25th May, 1971. Ratification of the ILO convention is not, of course, a prerequisite for entry to EEC.
I know this is not an essential matter but since we have given our agreement in spirit at any rate to this agreement and since harmonisation of social policy is one of the things to be aimed at in the EEC, have we considered whether we could ratify this prior to our entry?
It has been considered on a number of occasions and replies have been given to Parliamentary questions in the past in this connection. These included questions from the Deputy who, I am sure, is fairly familiar with what is the current position. I cannot say that there can be any advance on that, certainly in anticipation of the interim report from the Commission on the Status of Women.