Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Jun 1993

Vol. 432 No. 1

Written Answers. - Departmental Working Hours.

Richard Bruton

Question:

143 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the most recent estimate available to him of the total number of hours of overtime worked in private industry and the private service sector; the proportion this represents of total man-hours worked; and the impact that the proposed EC Directive on working hours will have on reducing this level of overtime.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

The information available in respect of working hours relates to the total hours worked including overtime. There are no separate data available on overtime working.

In relation to the proposed EC Directive on the Organisation of Working Time, the position is that the Council of Social Affairs Ministers reached political agreement on the proposals on 1 June, 1993. However, before the directive can be finally adopted, the proposal, as agreed by the Council, must be submitted to the European Parliament for consideration. The Parliament's position, including any proposed amendments, will then be submitted to the Commission, which will resubmit the proposals to the Council for final adoption.

The existing text of the directive may be amended during this process.

The proposed directive, which will apply to most employments, includes provisions on a range of working time issues such as maximum average weekly working hours, daily and weekly rest periods and annual leave and also includes special provisions in relation to night work.

In relation to maximum weekly working time, the text of the directive, as it now stands, provides that the average working time, including overtime, for each seven-day period, averaged over a four month reference period, must not exceed 48 hours. This four month reference period for averaging purposes may be extended to six months by legislation in certain circumstances and, in addition, may be extended to 12 months by way of collective agreement.

Members states will have three years from the date of final adoption of the directive to implement its provisions. However, member states will have the option not to apply the maximum weekly working time provision, subject to a number of specific measures being introduced to ensure, among other things, (i) that an employer may not require an employee to work longer than 48 hours a week on average without his or her agreement to perform such work and (ii) that no worker is subjected to any detriment because he or she is unwilling to agree to perform such work. This provision will be re-examined by the Council before the expiry of a period of ten years from the date of final adoption of the directive.

The impact of the directive on reducing the level of overtime working will be dependent on a wide range of factors including, the provisions of the directive as finally adopted, the extent to which any individual worker might be working in excess of the permitted maximum average weekly working hours at the time of implementation of the provisions of the directive, and the extent to which the reference period for averaging the 48 hour week is extended by legislation or by collective agreements.

Richard Bruton

Question:

144 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the total number of hours of overtime worked, in the most recent twelve month period for which figures are available, by persons employed by his Department or by public bodies under the aegis of his Department; the proportion this represents of total man hours worked; and the impact the proposed EC Directive on working hours will have on reducing this level of overtime.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

In 1992, a total of 31,860 hours were worked by staff in those sections of the former Departments of Labour and Industry and Commerce which now form the Department of Enterprise and Employment. This represents approximately 2 per cent of the total hours worked by staff in those same sections in that year. With regard to the State bodies under the aegis of my Department, the number of hours worked is a matter for the management of the bodies concerned.

In reply to a further question from the Deputy, I have outlined in detail the implications of the EC Directive on working hours.